In the elephants kind the gestation period varies from 18 to 22 months, & a female can only give birth to a calf at a time, which is normal when the latter weighs a hundred pounds at birth! The baby calf quickly becomes autonomous & learns to follow its mother quickly. To be feed he suckles with its mouth & not its trunk, until it is two years old. However it is from his three months that he begins to eat vegetables! If the females spend their lives with their family, the males leave the group at the age of 10.