My greatest experiences with baby animals have been with rescued birds. It’s an amazing experience to rear a little bird, and experience the absolute faith that this tiny helpless thing has in Giant You, once you gain its trust and it begins to imprint.
You have to feed them with your fingers, teach them to eat on their own, and drink water; and then you have to ‘fledge’ them, during which training they’ll always fly right back to you, their mom.
But I have to agree with you - baby elephants are especially wonderful.
Caution/Disclaimer: Except under certain licensed conditions, the only wild birds that we are allowed to take/rescue in the US are three introduced species: Starlings; House (English) Sparrows; and Pigeons (and baby pigeons are especially difficult!)
And don’t try this at home! unless you’re ready for a many-weeks-long commitment while it’s a baby, and up to 20 years of pet ownership, if you’ve got a pidge. My sparrows have lived up to eight years, my pigeons may die later than I do :-)
Wow! I’ve only hand-raised an abandoned FIV-positive kitten that lived to be 15 months old, and a maternally-rejected minidachshund (born in 2014; she’s still alive and with us now.) My hat is off to you!