Until the 1970s, orphaned baby elephants rarely survived in human care. Wildlife rangers could rescue calves that were separated from their mothers by poaching, drought, or other causes, but feeding them successfully proved to be far more difficult. Cow's milk and commercially available formulas failed to meet their nutritional needs, and many calves died within weeks. Kenyan conservationist Dame Daphne Sheldrick was determined to change that, and spent years experimenting with different milk formulas while caring for orphaned elephants at Tsavo National Park. Through years of trial and error, she developed a formula based on human infant milk and coconut-derived fats that supported the growth of milk-dependent calves. According to the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust , Daphne also pioneered the specialized round-the-clock care needed to raise orphaned elephants successfully, which created methods that have since helped save more than 300 orphaned elephants.
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