To finish the post on African elephants, here's part 2. Unlike the last post, this one will cover several elephant issues and facts.
Let's start with the basics; gestation period (time pregnant) is 22 months -- useful trivia information, you'd be surprised how often that comes up. They are typically about 12 feet tall, and weight a ton. Well, 6 tons for males, and 5 1/2 for females (12,000 lbs and 11,000 lbs respectively). Their tusks are actually large teeth and yes, the trunk is its nose and no, it doesn't drink water through it. It sucks up water then sprays it in its mouth. The pictures came up a little out of order, but as you can see from the 3rd picture, they're standing in front of a car we were using (a large land rover) and it looks puny in comparison to the elephants.
Herds. Sometimes called "Parades" are built around a matriarch and contains several families -- the size varies throughout the year and depends on season and availability of resources like food and water. Sometimes they are as small as 5 or 10 elephants, but regularly can be 40 or 50, and occasionally upwards of 100. The matriarchal elephant is one of the most powerful animals that roam the plains. In most cases, no predator would dare mess with her, with a backing of dozens and dozens of other elephants. The herds are made of the adult females and their offspring up to juveniles (adult males leave the group). Though they are social groups, they primarily serve as defense and care of young. Infants are vulnerable alone and need several to intimidate predators. In most situations, the adults will surround all the young in a circle and face the predators, scaring them off. Also, the mothers provide warmth by surrounding young, preventing them from getting pneumonia as easily in cold nights. Males wander (picture 1) and basically tend to themselves. They'll interact for mating, but otherwise are independent and must find food and water alone while continually defending itself.
Picture 4 is of 2 males 'tusking' which is sort of an informal, symbolic fight. Perhaps for practice, perhaps to impress females, but they'll ram each other and tangle trunks in each others faces while jousting with their tusks.
Interactions with humans. There are lots of things I could talk about here but I'll keep it minimal. Long story short, elephants are relatively ok around people, unless they feel threatened. And with fewer resources for them to get because of development and increased droughts, they often feel more threatened in close quarters. So the relationship is becoming strained. The EU built several wells along migratino paths to try to build corridors for elephants, allowing development to occur out of the way of elephants so both could live without getting in each others way. Currently, when an elephant is speared, the other elephants of a herd pester villagers and sometimes trample homes or kill people (see picture 5). When this happens, people retaliate by killing another elephants. It keeps aggrevating people, and makes elephants more defensive and aggresive. So don't go killing one or be around people who have.
Some notes on seeing elephants in the wild:
It's ok to be near them in a car, as long as you aren't loud or in their face. If you get relatively close in a car, they'll sniff around, investigate, and carry on. If you listen to music, they pick up on low frequencies and react, sometimes violently. Maybe they associate low frequencies with threats. So don't do that. Sometimes they'll feel threatened, but they give you several warnings before charging your car. 1: they'll stare at you for a while. 2: they'll flap their ears and call sounds. 3: They'll walk up to you, within feet and flap ears. 4. back up, and sometime charge and stop near the car. 5. They'll charge you. So if they start doing a couple of the first ones, just peacefully leave. If they come up close to you, don't move. If they see movement, they might feel more threatened. I made the mistake of moving once. It was not a fun experience. Whoops!
Finally, how to make friends. If you're near elephants, sometimes they'll approach you. Not in defense, but out of curiousity. You'll know this because they'll smell for a while, then calmly walk to the car. They'll sometimes stick their trunk in the car, and feel around. If they touch you, it's ok. If their trunk is there for a few seconds, take its trunk and blow into it. It might seem stupid or scary, but they know scents well, and that's how it'll remember you. They'll remember you for about 6 years, in fact. It's true, elephants do have fantastic memory. If you swat it away, it won't be happy. It's like extending a hand for a handshake, and them slapping it away instead of shaking it. That's just rude. So either blow into it, or sit still. If you choose the former, assuming you don't piss it off by taunting it, you'll be bff. or bff6y (best friends for 6 years).
Hope you like the pictures!
Let's start with the basics; gestation period (time pregnant) is 22 months -- useful trivia information, you'd be surprised how often that comes up. They are typically about 12 feet tall, and weight a ton. Well, 6 tons for males, and 5 1/2 for females (12,000 lbs and 11,000 lbs respectively). Their tusks are actually large teeth and yes, the trunk is its nose and no, it doesn't drink water through it. It sucks up water then sprays it in its mouth. The pictures came up a little out of order, but as you can see from the 3rd picture, they're standing in front of a car we were using (a large land rover) and it looks puny in comparison to the elephants.
Herds. Sometimes called "Parades" are built around a matriarch and contains several families -- the size varies throughout the year and depends on season and availability of resources like food and water. Sometimes they are as small as 5 or 10 elephants, but regularly can be 40 or 50, and occasionally upwards of 100. The matriarchal elephant is one of the most powerful animals that roam the plains. In most cases, no predator would dare mess with her, with a backing of dozens and dozens of other elephants. The herds are made of the adult females and their offspring up to juveniles (adult males leave the group). Though they are social groups, they primarily serve as defense and care of young. Infants are vulnerable alone and need several to intimidate predators. In most situations, the adults will surround all the young in a circle and face the predators, scaring them off. Also, the mothers provide warmth by surrounding young, preventing them from getting pneumonia as easily in cold nights. Males wander (picture 1) and basically tend to themselves. They'll interact for mating, but otherwise are independent and must find food and water alone while continually defending itself.
Picture 4 is of 2 males 'tusking' which is sort of an informal, symbolic fight. Perhaps for practice, perhaps to impress females, but they'll ram each other and tangle trunks in each others faces while jousting with their tusks.
Interactions with humans. There are lots of things I could talk about here but I'll keep it minimal. Long story short, elephants are relatively ok around people, unless they feel threatened. And with fewer resources for them to get because of development and increased droughts, they often feel more threatened in close quarters. So the relationship is becoming strained. The EU built several wells along migratino paths to try to build corridors for elephants, allowing development to occur out of the way of elephants so both could live without getting in each others way. Currently, when an elephant is speared, the other elephants of a herd pester villagers and sometimes trample homes or kill people (see picture 5). When this happens, people retaliate by killing another elephants. It keeps aggrevating people, and makes elephants more defensive and aggresive. So don't go killing one or be around people who have.
Some notes on seeing elephants in the wild:
It's ok to be near them in a car, as long as you aren't loud or in their face. If you get relatively close in a car, they'll sniff around, investigate, and carry on. If you listen to music, they pick up on low frequencies and react, sometimes violently. Maybe they associate low frequencies with threats. So don't do that. Sometimes they'll feel threatened, but they give you several warnings before charging your car. 1: they'll stare at you for a while. 2: they'll flap their ears and call sounds. 3: They'll walk up to you, within feet and flap ears. 4. back up, and sometime charge and stop near the car. 5. They'll charge you. So if they start doing a couple of the first ones, just peacefully leave. If they come up close to you, don't move. If they see movement, they might feel more threatened. I made the mistake of moving once. It was not a fun experience. Whoops!
Finally, how to make friends. If you're near elephants, sometimes they'll approach you. Not in defense, but out of curiousity. You'll know this because they'll smell for a while, then calmly walk to the car. They'll sometimes stick their trunk in the car, and feel around. If they touch you, it's ok. If their trunk is there for a few seconds, take its trunk and blow into it. It might seem stupid or scary, but they know scents well, and that's how it'll remember you. They'll remember you for about 6 years, in fact. It's true, elephants do have fantastic memory. If you swat it away, it won't be happy. It's like extending a hand for a handshake, and them slapping it away instead of shaking it. That's just rude. So either blow into it, or sit still. If you choose the former, assuming you don't piss it off by taunting it, you'll be bff. or bff6y (best friends for 6 years).
Hope you like the pictures!
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