Spinage (1982:120)wrote:
“My diary for 7 March 1966 reads as follows:
0900 Parent lying with fawn wet and immobile beside it
0910 The dam rises and licks the fawn. About 45 cm of fetal membranes are hanging from the dam’s vulva
0922 Fawn stands and tries to find the teats, but falls over. Stands up again and the dam licks the fawn’s anus. Tail-raising reflex observed in the fawn.
0926 Fawn tries to suckle again and makes butting movements in the dam’s groin.
0928 It finds the teats and suckles.
0932 The dam proceeds to eat the membranes which are lying on the ground.
0935 Fawn stops suckling and lies down.
0940 The dam clears up traces on the ground.
0941 The fawn gets up again and suckled intermittently.
0947 Fawn lies down after trying to shake itself.
0952 Dam takes the membranes hanging from the vulva into her mouth and pulls them out, ingesting them as she pulls.
1012 The dam examines the ground, then she pulls the last remnant of the membranes, about 60 cm long, from the vulva, and ingests it. Then she sits by the fawn.
One must be cautious in making interpretations from a single observation, and I am unable to say with certainty how much time had passed between actual parturition and the time when I found the couple, but I believe it to have been very short.”
Jane Packard on
August 5th, 2009
Here is a video of an eland birth at the Houston Zoo. How does it compare with waterbuck?
Spinage (1982:120)wrote:
“My diary for 7 March 1966 reads as follows:
0900 Parent lying with fawn wet and immobile beside it
0910 The dam rises and licks the fawn. About 45 cm of fetal membranes are hanging from the dam’s vulva
0922 Fawn stands and tries to find the teats, but falls over. Stands up again and the dam licks the fawn’s anus. Tail-raising reflex observed in the fawn.
0926 Fawn tries to suckle again and makes butting movements in the dam’s groin.
0928 It finds the teats and suckles.
0932 The dam proceeds to eat the membranes which are lying on the ground.
0935 Fawn stops suckling and lies down.
0940 The dam clears up traces on the ground.
0941 The fawn gets up again and suckled intermittently.
0947 Fawn lies down after trying to shake itself.
0952 Dam takes the membranes hanging from the vulva into her mouth and pulls them out, ingesting them as she pulls.
1012 The dam examines the ground, then she pulls the last remnant of the membranes, about 60 cm long, from the vulva, and ingests it. Then she sits by the fawn.
One must be cautious in making interpretations from a single observation, and I am unable to say with certainty how much time had passed between actual parturition and the time when I found the couple, but I believe it to have been very short.”
Here is a video of an eland birth at the Houston Zoo. How does it compare with waterbuck?
http://www.houstonzoo.org/baby-giant-eland/