Hillary Rodham Clinton may not have much in common with certain elephants, but when she wrote It Takes a Village, she may have been inspired in part by mama pachyderms. That’s because all the female elephants in a herd take charge of the care, feeding, and education of any of the big babies born to their group. These elephant “Allomothers” pitch in to protect and nurture the initially blind calves—an endearing but practical parental system for rearing the next generation. And given that elephant gestation is a 22-month marathon, those other ladies might be grateful for the relative ease of a calf-sitting rotation.
Elephant Family Bookends | $65
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