(CNN) Besides humans, baby elephants are among the slowest animals to grow up.

"They are born nearly blind, they are totally helpless and all they can do is pretty much follow the mother and suckle", elephant scientist Cynthia Moss told CNN.

"It takes a long time for a calf to grow up. They're not mature until they're 12 or 13 years old. They still need their mother even at that point."

"And even in our studies we found that when a female dies any calf below two will also die, will not survive, but even the four to six year old sometimes dies without the mother", Moss adds.

Given this dependency, it is most heartbreaking when baby elephants are left orphaned because of drought, conflict or poaching.

Read More