📌 Young Turks of nature: Elephants (Original wildlife photos and thoughts)

Did you know they can swim but can't jump??

Right behind the Mankwe dam of Pilanesberg reserve, there is an elephant trail that crosses Mankwe way and heads towards Kubu dam. I have spotted the great pachyderms ambling by and crossing Mankwe way often over the past few years. This one time though, last year, a large herd had just passed me and I was relaxing in my parked car, munching on a sandwich. I had drawn my car to a location much closer to the crossing location, under the shade of a tree since I was sure that the elephant herd was long gone.

There wasn't even a sound in the late afternoon. The air was dead still too. Suddenly, the silence of the warm sweltering afternoon was broken by playful trumpeting from young elephants. Lo and behold, out broke 7-8 young turk elephants from the grass to my right. Barely 10 feet away!

I was not planning on any major photography at that point in time and my main gear was all packed away. Luckily, I always keep a small Olympus camera in my car. I used that to capture these playful young elephants - following the main heard but at their own pace. They were jostling each other playfully, even pulling each other's tails. Here is the picture:

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Unusual for my brain, it was not racing during those few moments. A strange calm and feeling of contentment had descended upon me. Watching those playful young turks, perhaps I felt happy and peaceful - perhaps my subconscious was remembering my carefree boyhood days. I do not, therefore, have any thoughts to share from that moment. Instead, I will just share some interesting facts about elephants that have stuck in my memory over years:

• Elephants are the largest land animals. They grow up to 20000 pounds + in weight and can be as tall as 12-13 feet!
• Elephants have a 1" thick skin. This means that their skin is thicker than some parts of Rhino (Rhino skin is between 1.5-5 inches thick)
• Elephants have a brain 3-4 times human brain in size. It is the largest brain among land mammals
• It is believed that elephants never forget. I do not know if this is true but it is definitely true that they have incredible memories. I have heard of incidents about elephants recognizing humans after 30 years.
• At birth, a 'baby' elephant is about 3 feet tall and weighs around 250 pounds!! Talk about a massive 'baby'. LOL
• An elephant favors one of it's tusks for use. In that sense, some elephants can be 'lefty'
• Elephant's trunk is an amazing organ. It has over 40,000 muscles in it and can sense touch, size, shape and temperature!
• Elephants can swim!
• Elephants can not jump! In fact, they are the only land dwelling mammal that can not do so
• Elephant's pulse rate is only 27 (in comparison, human pulse rate is usually 72-80)
• An Elephant, though such a large animal, is not very aggressive usually. It displays compassion, self-awareness, social understanding and respect of fellow elephants.
• Elephants are believed to be able of 'seismic communication' - They apparently communicate over large distances by stomping their feet and sensing ground vibrations with the pads of their feet

I just love Elephants. Don't you?

Steemians, please share your experiences, knowledge and views about Elephants. It will be great to get more perspective and a lively dialogue going. Thanks

Note: All images except for the wildlife photo and the title image created by me are from pixabay.com