Capturing the Elephant
It was the first day of a 15 day “classic safari” trip to Kenya and Tanzania. We had just left the hotel to drive across the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania, which is known for its abundance and variety of African animals encluding the endangered black rhino. The 12 mile wide crater is the largest unflooded intact caldera in the world.
Only 15 minutes into the drive, we saw our first wild animal, a very old male elephant with gigantic tusks. Our guide told us that that he was part of the bachelor elephant herd, known for their impressive tusks, that live in the crater. Because of his age, he was wearing down his teeth and soon would be unable to chew vegetation. He would either starve to death or become so weak that he would be easy prey for predators.
Later that morning, a very healthy and vigorous male elephant sauntered across the rest area where our vehicle stopped for our first break. The next 15 minutes was an exercise in self-control as we were prohibited from leaving our vehicle until the guides determined there was no danger.
There are two species of African elephants. The larger savanna (or bush) elephant are those wandering the grasslands and have larger tusks that curve out and upward. The smaller forest elephants live where their name implies and are darker in color with tusks that are straight and point downward.
My one chance to see a forest elephant was on another trip to Africa when I trekked through the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda to see mountain gorillas. There were armed soldiers at the front and back of our procession in case we encountered a herd. As if this were not discomfiting enough, we were told that should this occur, we should flatten ourself against a tree. I never figured out how this would protect us given the elephant could knock down a tree were it so inclined.
In Tanzania I had the ultimate elephant experience when swimming in the hotel pool at Serengeti National Park. Below the pool was a watering hole. Over several hours, I watched as one elephant herd after another came to drink.
Each group was led by their matriarch and did not drink until she did. As the herds drank, baby elephants would splash in the pool, and shower each other with water. Occasionally, they would shower one of the adults who might or might not be amused by these antics. If necessary, the mother would gently slap her offspring with her trunk as a warning. If the youngster continued its high jinks, she would slap harder until her calf got the message.
The matriarch of each group determined when the group was sated and would give a low grunt and walk away. The herd would fall in behind her single file. Since an elephant trunk can hold up to 40 gallons of water, and elephants drink about 52 gallons a day, the herd was quickly sated.
When I told the guide about this experience, he told me I was lucky to have seen so many large groups in succession. He also told me some other interesting facts about elephants. Tusks are actually elongated incisor teeth and babies are born with milk tusks. Since they suckle with their mouth, not their trunk, as the tusks grow out it becomes increasing painful for the mother to nurse. This is how she determines when to wean her calf.
There are 40,000 muscles in an elephant’s trunk, more than the 600 in the human body. An extension, or finger, at the end of the trunk allows them to pick up something as delicate as a blade of grass or potato chip. I would see this first hand when I had another elephant experience in India.
My primary reason for going to India was to see tigers, but an unexpected benefit was getting to see and ride Asian elephants. There are numerous differences between the two species but the most distinctive, and easiest way to tell them apart, is to look at the ears. African elephants have much larger ears, often said to resemble the shape of Africa. The African species also weighs approximately 2000 pounds more than its Asian counterpart.
Whereas male and female African elephants have tusks, only some of the Asian males do. Asian elephants are more passive than their African cousins, thus the elephants commonly seen in zoos and circuses are of the Asian variety, as are those that are ridden.
As always, I wandered far afield from the elephant’s finger at the end of its trunk. At Bandhavgarh National Park, which is known for its tiger reserve, we rode elephants into an area of dense forest and grasslands in search of tigers. We did see tigers but that is a subject for another time.
When we returned to the elephant stable, and were waiting in line to dismount, the woman on the elephant beside me dropped her camera lens. She was unaware she had done so. I was about to tell her when the elephant she was riding picked the lens up with its “finger,” raised his trunk over his head and gave it to her. We were in awe and I am using that word in its true definition: an emotion of wonder that is inspired by authority or by the sacred or sublime.
The major threat to African and Asian elephants is mankind. On both continents, they are poached for their tusks which are sold on the black market. Since African elephants have the largest tusks, especially the savanna/bush species, they are the most endangered. When in Africa, we visited several animal preserves where there were armed guards who asked no questions but shot poachers on sight.
While humans may pose the biggest threat, there is one tiny creature that terrifies elephants and it isn’t a mouse. It is the humble bee! Just the sound of a bee will start an elephant flapping its ears, stirring up dust, making noises, and beating a hasty retreat. While a single bee’s stinger cannot kill an elephant, when they form swarms of thousands and attack an elephant’s trunk, mouth, eyes, and behind their ears, they can kill it.
In Asia and Africa, farmers use bees to keep elephants out of their crops by erecting beehive fences around their fields. If an elephant tries to get through the fence, the hives sway thus aggravating the bees. As soon as the elephants hear the buzzing they haul ass without giving the bees time to form a swarm.
My last and favorite elephant story occurred on my first Africa trip. We were on a game drive in Amboseli National Park which is in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro. The park is renowned for being the best place in Africa to get close to free-ranging elephants. It did not take us long to come upon such a group grazing on grass with Mount Kilimanjaro in the background.
We were all concentrating on getting photos of the elephants when the guide told us to stop, that he was going to give us the perfect shot. He maneuvered the jeep into position, turned around and said, “Now, you can capture the elephant with your camera. Take him back to the United States and remember us with fondness every time you look at the picture.”
I did exactly that and now, in honor of World Elephant Day on August 12, I share with you the photograph our guide set up for us.
