Gisele Bundchen urges fans to support baby elephants

The supermodel felt "blessed" and "touched" to meet some of the mammals during a trip to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust - an elephant orphanage in Kenya - and she wants her fans to "speak up" for the animals as they are often pursued by hunters for their ivory and meat.

She wrote on her blog: "I felt so blessed to spend time with these gentle giants. I met a baby elephant who was only two months old and had just arrived at the sanctuary.

"He touched my heart. He was shy, scared, and still traumatised from losing his mother. He was not ready to be playful with the other members of his adopted herd.

"He was so sweet, looking for a little love and one of my friends hugged his trunk. It was an amazing gift to meet the baby elephants."

The 31-year-old beauty posted a picture on her Facebook page of her bottle feeding one of the elephants.

She added: "When I went to Africa I discovered that elephants are one of the smartest and most complex mammals on earth. If we don't protect them, they can be extinguished."

As well as supporting the elephants' cause, Gisele donates proceeds from sales of her sandals to a different charity every year, and she has previously spent time with an Indian tribe on the Xingu River in the Amazon Rainforest.