All About Elephants

A few stories about magnificent, highly intelligent and evolved elephants…

Elephants are Compassionate

Zoologist, Katy Payne tells a wonderful story. There was a bull elephant walking along a road and a tortoise was crossing the road. The bull was about to step on him, but noticed he was there and instead put his foot down to the side so that the tortoise could continue on his way unharmed.
Many have heard the story of the elephants in Sri Lanka who broke through their ropes and ran to safety, bellowing a warning that the tsunami was coming. Then they returned and picked up people, one by one, by lifting them with their trunk and putting them on their back, with help of the mahout (elephant keeper). And, then moved them up the hill to safety. Elephants were saving humans that day!! Please enjoy Jana Laiz’s book, Elephants Of The Tsunami.

Elephants Have a Sense of Humor

Audrey Delsink tells the story of Charles, a proud bull who was trying to push over a large tree but couldn’t. Several conservationists, watching him from their land rover, started laughing. He looked up, saw them laughing at him, walked over and pushed a smaller tree right down on top of their land rover! Then he sauntered off with a toss of his head and a self-satisfied swagger!

Elephants Love Their Family Members

A family of elephants were crossing a river but a little calf was too scared to cross. So the family, already on the other side, turned around and swam back. Then together, they all walked to a part of the river that was more shallow where the baby elephant could cross with them.

Elephants are Highly Evolved and Sentient

In his tremendous book, Elephantoms, Lyall Watson tells the story of the great madam elephant, Delilah, who was put in a small enclosure at a zoo while a larger space was built. There was a corner in the enclosure that she refused to go near, seeming to express fear. Lyall was curious why this was so and asked the zookeeper for information. It turns out that twenty years earlier another elephant was killed in the very corner that Delilah avoided and reacted to with fright! This is the thing; Delilah was young when she was captured and brought to the zoo. She was not reacting to that corner because she remembered an elephant was killed there. That happened many years before she was born. Her ability to sense that an elephant was killed in that corner exposes an incredible ability that elephants have.

Elephants Feel Emotions

Lyall Watson related the story by biologist Ivan Sanderson about a young circus elephant named Sadie. She just could not seem to learn the circus routine. In her frustration, she ran out of the practice tent. The trainers brought her back and scolded her. She tried again and again but couldn’t get it. Finally, Lyall related from Sanderson, “she gave up, sank to her knees, and then laid down on her side, weeping. She lay there, said one of the horrified trainers, “tears streaming down her face, sobs racking her huge body, like a child”.

Of course elephants feel positive emotions such as joy, love, happiness and playfulness. They especially express great joy when a baby elephant is born. They go wild with delight!!! I was moved to tears of awe when I saw it!

Elephants Communicate with Other Species

Again, Lyall Watson told this incredible story. I great lonely matriarch was standing at the head of a cliff, rumbling and waving her trunk. He wondered what she was doing as there were no other elephants around. He investigated and discovered that she was communicating with a whale in the bay below the cliff!!