Imagine just for a moment that you've been born with a long fat noodle attached to your face.

You understandably have no idea how to move this giant noodle around. In fact, it seems to have a mind all of its own.

Over the next few months, this appendage will at times prove to be, let's say, a little awkward.

However, life without it would undoubtedly spell doom for you and your fellow kin. Sounds kind of odd, right?

Well, you've now entered the world of every baby elephant to have walked the planet.

An elephant's trunk requires precise coordination to use correctly.

Luckily, elephants have evolved their biggest brains of all land mammals.

Although, when they're born, their brains only weigh half of what they will be once they're fully grown.

To develop and strengthen the neural pathways from their brain to the rest of their body requires time.

So, as you can imagine, for newly born elephant calves, their trunks may see more of a floppy, awkward obstacle than a life-changing tool.

Now, I have to admit, I found it hard to believe when I discovered that elephants have to learn how to use their trunks.

But that's precisely what I witnessed on a visit to the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi, Kenya.

This orphanage project works to rescue, rehabilitate, and reintegrate orphaned elephants into a new family herd.

To help the young calves through this journey, keepers look after them and guard them around the clock.

Some even sleep overnight in the stables with the baby alleys.

Other than sleeping, feeding is an essential part of the process when it comes to bonding with their surrogate human herd members.

It was also the perfect chance for me to get involved and to get up close to see their trunks in action.

Armed with a four-litre bottle of milk, the sight of what can only be described as a train of 20 elephant calves,

thundering towards the feeding station, all lined up, single-file, one behind the other, in the golden morning light, was one I'll never forget.

The thing I was most surprised about was their size.

Standing next to the two-year-olds, who were already at shoulder height, was quite intimidating as they jostled for position around myself and the keepers.

In fact, one of the older calves, clearly unimpressed by my feeding skills, slowly coiled its trunk around the bottle and proceeded to remove it from my hand in order to feed itself.

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