Elephant, Kruger Africa

Excitement was bubbling up within me when I had my first glance of a single elephant just to the left of the gravel road. As I sidled up beside it and sized it up, I tried to work out his age. I assume he’s male since females usually stay with the herd. Some other indicators to use are the size of his head, the curve of the line from his eye to the tusk, the thickness of the tusk and the sheer size of it. First of all, the line from its eyes to its tusk has a curve. A straight line is more typical of those under 20 years old. The size of his head and body is significantly smaller than those seen in elephants that are 35+. Older bulls have thicker and longer tusks that bulge out which this one doesn’t. I would guesstimate that this bull is somewhere between 20-35 years of age. Elephant bulls are known to venture out on their own unless they are looking for a reproductive partner and then they join a herd for a short time.

Elephants are the largest land animals on earth. Weighing up to 6 tonnes (6,000 kg), elephants can eat up to 350 pounds (160 kg) of grass, leaves and tree bark per day. The big flappy ears are used to dissipate body heat and the trunk, consisting of 40,000 muscles, is used for smelling, trumpeting, breathing, moving objects and sucking up water. Adults don’t have any predators, but the calves can fall prey to lions, leopards, hyenas, and crocodiles. 

Living up to 60 years of age, matriarchs lead troops from place to place to forage for food and find water, but they also play a critical role in: influencing behaviour and decisions; keeping the troop safe from danger; and teaching other females how to care for their young. The matriarch is a treasure trove of wisdom, and her exceptional memory gives her the confidence to lead her troop during annual migration.

When calves are born, they can’t see very well so they use their other senses – touch, smell, sound – to recognise their mums. Calves are protected by the entire herd, often tucked amongst the whole herd as they move. Learning how to use the trunk takes a lot of practice to master it. Until then, it can be quite a menace as the calf often trips over it or steps on it. In the early days calves’ intestines are sterile and in order to digest their food, they need a particular type of bacteria that can only be obtained by eating the faeces (aka coprophagia) of their mothers or others in the herd. Perhaps not the most appealing of meals but for these younglings the bacteria help develop and strengthen their digestive and immune systems. Coprophagia is not unique to elephants as pandas, rhinos, koalas, and hippos, along with other animals, practice it as well. 

These gentle giants are very social and highly intelligent. They have strong family ties, like to play, love mud baths and shower themselves to cool off. Although they travel in large troops of 30-40 individuals, breeding herds are more difficult to find in the park than the smaller groups of elephant bulls or solitary ones.