This particular part of Tlou dam offers a trickle of fresh water that the elephant herds find almost irresistible.
They were even to lazy to stand upright to drink, preferring instead to rest on this rock and drink from this position.
Fun Fact #293: Rapid ear flapping can mean excitement or aggression, but don’t be too alarmed as sometimes elephants will flap their ears to cool themselves down.
And getting out was not as simple as this female and her calf might have imagined. There was a lot of slipping and sliding and if elephants could curse under their breath, I am certain that THIS one would have been doing just that.
Elephants are exceptionally smart creatures. They have the largest brain of any land animal, and three times as many neurons as humans.
And if to prove that fact, eventually, mom took the route of least resistance to get out of the water…
And they both headed off into the bush
Did you know?
Elephants are pregnant for 22 months, and at birth, a baby elephants weigh 95kg.
Amazingly, elephant calves are able to stand in 20 minutes and can walk within 1 hour. After two days, they are able keep up with the herd.
Same rock, different elephant.
“I am just toooooooooooooooooo tired”! I am small and need to be helped.
By sucking on its trunk, a young elephant learn how to control and manipulate the muscles so that it can fine-tune its use.
Family greeting.
Elephants rely heavily on their bonds with other elephants as having a healthy social network is critical for their survival. This makes them sociable creatures and herds are often led by an older matriarch with mothers, sisters and female cousins sticking closely together. Males tend to leave their herds around 14 years of age and they will roam with other males to search for suitable mating partners.
In every elephant Blog post there has to be at least one butt shot. This is it.
When faced with such a large animal, correctly reading their body language is important: Tails: Just like a dog, when an elephant’s tail is swishing from side to side swatting away flies, it is happy. As soon as the tail goes stiff, normally held out to one side, it means that the elephant is stressed and you should be alert to possible aggressive behaviour.
As night settles over Madikwe, it is time to turn the vehicle westwards and head back to Tau Game Lodge for the night.
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