Elephants communicate with a range of vocalizations, from low-frequency rumbles, known as infrasound, which humans can’t hear, to higher-pitched screams and trumpets. Other elephants can hear these vocalizations as much as six miles away. This allows them to keep in touch when apart and also enables them to recognise if an elephant is a friend. If not, they gather together for protection.

Trunk:

Elephants have around 40,000 muscles in their trunks. An elephant’s trunk acts as its mouth, nose and hands all in one. It is used for breathing, smelling, picking up objects, touching and hugging. It is a very powerful yet delicate instrument, strong enough to break a branch from a tree and yet delicate enough to be able to pick up a blade of grass. To drink, an elephant sucks water into its trunk like a hose and blows it into its mouth - researchers reckon elephants can store up to nine litres of water in their trunks! The trunk also lifts food into its mouth. Elephants are great swimmers and can use their trunks like snorkels!

Tusks:

Tusks are the only two front teeth of an elephant and grow throughout an elephant’s lifetime. Used to dig and find food, to play and fight, tusks are important tools although some elephants are born without one or both. Made of ivory, which has long been coveted by certain cultures, elephants have sadly been poached (killed) for their tusks.

In recent years, many people have asked if tusked can be dyed/painted to help protect elephants. However, practically speaking, as with our own teeth, ivory (or dentine) is a very hard substance so, in the case of dying the tusks, it would be incredibly difficult to ensure that the colour permeates the surface. Without this, the dye on the outer surface could be buffed or sanded away, thereby not acting as a deterrent.

Added to this, anesthetising an elephant can be a dangerous procedure for the animal and as tusks grow at approximately 2cm per year, meaning that this process of staining the tusks would have to be repeated many times throughout an elephant’s life. Instead, we believe that changing human behaviour (not modifying elephants) is the only long term solution and work through Anti-Poaching and awareness campaigns to help put an end to ivory poaching.

Elephants are sensitive and complex social animals who seek the companionship of other elephants, preferably their own families. With a life span of 70-80 years, elephants will grieve and mourn when a herd member dies and elephants have been observed visiting the bones of deceased herd members and touching these with their trunks.

With females remaining with their herd for their entire lives and bulls forming ‘bachelor herds’ made up of other males, it is clear that elephants form close bonds of friendship. They have even been known to care for an orphaned elephant even if the infant is not related to the herd, although if a mother is already nursing her own calf, the chance of this reduces.

Elephants are a key stone species, which means without them, entire ecosystems would look dramatically different or cease to exist. In the case of an elephant, their dietary habits and movements help control an ecosystem and create new habitats other animals including antelopes, zebra and wildebeest, as well as smaller animals and insects.

For instance, elephants can travel over 80km a day and when it rains, their large footprints act as water collectors and serve as water sources for smaller animals. Elephants also pull up grass and bushes when they eat, making room for new plants to grow whilst they also spread plant seeds to new areas through their droppings (dung).