When we think of elephants, we think of enormous creatures. But that isn’t exactly the case for Moyo.
Moyo is on the small side for an elephant. So, much so that he’s more like a house elephant.
Moyo arrived at Wild Is Life, an NGO in Harare, Zimbabwe, when he was just a few days old. He almost drowned after trying to cross a flooded river with his family. Thankfully, he was found by rangers who brought him to Wild Is Life.
Wild Is Life Founder Roxy Danckwert basically became his surrogate mother.
“He is probably one of the smallest elephant cubs ever to be rescued. He came to us when she was about three to four days old. She weighed 56 kilos, and normally an African elephant cub weighs about 90 kilos. So he was very very small. I slept with him, I was with him 24 hours a day, and I think that’s part of the reason why he managed to pull through,” Danckwerts told CGTN.
He pretty much followers her everywhere.
By the time he was 3-months-old, he was hanging out inside her home.
He especially loves the couch though he got so big that he was on the verge of breaking it. And sometimes he knocks things over. Or pees giant puddles of pee on her floor.
“And he knows he’s being naughty!” Danckwerts tells BBC.
He’s a bit too big for the house but isn’t interested in leaving anytime soon. His favorite place in the house is the kitchen.
“He loves silver. It’s very interesting. Talk about an elephant with a silver spoon in his mouth!” Danckwerts says.
She basically talks to him like he’s a dog.
“Come on Moyo! Let’s go!” she tells him trying to lead him out of the kitchen.
Danckwerts knows that she’s got her hands full with Moyo but she loves him just the same.
“Moyo is a very iconic little elephant,” she says.
He’s been featured on the BBC several times. They also documented his journey toward getting over his fear of water which he gained after being separated from his family in the flooded river.
“They say elephants never forget and perhaps he will never forget his trauma but at least if we can show him it can be a bit of fun we can retrain him brain to cope with that earlier memory,” Danckwerts said.
Taking baby steps and watching Danckwerts and her dog wade in the water, he finally followed them. He even had fun doing it. Danckwerts said it was a very big step toward eventually reintegrating him back into the wild.
Danckwerts says that hundreds of young elephants are orphaned across Africa every year, giving them a slim chance of survival in the wild.
“We rescue babies, and we grow them, rehabilitate them and re-wild them. We are trying to create a culture where people care,” said Danckwerts.
Nowadays you can find Moyo busting moves online. You can check out him and his handlers doing the #JerusalemaChallenge, an internet dance challenge to the gospel-influenced house song by South African producer Master KG and performed by singer-songwriter Nomcebo.
Check out Moyo the house elephant in the video below.
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