Michael Sliter, age 10, of Louisville, Ky., for his question:

HOW MUCH DOES A BABY ELEPHANT WEIGH?

A baby elephant has had 22 months  almost two years  to grow and develop inside his mother's tummy. So at birth we would expect him to be a sizable baby, and far from helpless. And so he is. The average baby elephant stands three feet high at shoulder level and weighs about 200 pounds. Usually he is an only child, though sometimes a mother elephant gives birth to twins.

He already has a pair of baby tusks and almost at once he can stand up on his strong, stubby legs. He feeds on mother's milk and soon finds his feeding faucets, which are between his mother's front legs. For the first two days or so he may live in a sheltered grove,   tended by his loving mother and one or two kindly aunties. Then he is strong enough to walk along with the herd.