Elephants are amazing animals. They never forget anything. In Nepal, an elephant gave me a bath in the river by splattering me with several trunks full of water. I was lucky enough to feed this same elephant later. She remembered me and allowed me to “pet” her several times after our first encounters.

Elephants don’t usually seek out human company. This elephant was a captive, working elephant, and her “mahout” took very good care of her. She was very docile and affectionate.

Elephants usually stay with their herds and shy away from humans. One of the biggest treats I’ve had in Africa with elephants was when a herd of then warily walked through our camp early in the morning. They were totally silent, but they kept their eyes on us the whole time.

Elephants are herbivorous. They eat grasses, roots, fruit and bark. They use their tusks to strip bark off of trees and to dig roots out of the ground. They use their trunks to breathe, to drink, and to collect wads of grass from the savannah and fruit from trees.

An elephant’s trunk has more than 100,000 muscles. An elephant can eat 300 pounds of food in one day. They can be found in Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia. These huge mammals can reach a height of 13 feet and can weigh up to 15,000 pounds. They are the largest land animals on Earth. There are two recognized species: the African elephant and the Asian elephant. However, some believe there are several sub-species, as well.

All photos by the writer.

Elephants are very smart. Their intelligence has been compared to primates and cetaceans. Indeed, when I was in Thailand, I saw an elephant pick up a paintbrush with its trunk, select red, green and yellow paint, and paint a complete row of flowers. He then went back to the selection process and chose blue for the sky. It was an amazing painting, and no one would ever have believed an elephant created it. He covered the entire 3-by-4-foot canvass.

Elephants communicate by sight, smell, sound and touch. Each family herd is led by the oldest cow, the matriarch.

In Zimbabwe recently, an elephant named Ben showed up at a tourist’s safari lodge. This is unusual behavior for a wild elephant. The staff at the lodge, being familiar enough with animal behavior, realized something was wrong with Ben. Indeed, Ben had come to them for help. Ben knew there was a veterinarian on staff at the lodge from a previous experience there. And now, he desperately needed help.

Unfortunately, the on-site vet was away on business. The lodge staff noticed Ben was limping, so they called in another vet who flew 200 miles to care for Ben. Meanwhile, the staff catered to Ben and brought him cool water to drink.

Once Ben was tranquilized, the vet found a bullet lodged in Ben’s shoulder and two more bullet holes in his ear. The bullets came from a poacher’s gun. Ben was lucky that these kind people were able to remove the bullet and help Ben fight off infection. They saved his life. He’s still at the safari lodge, healing quickly and gaining back his strength.

The biggest threat to elephant survival is the ivory trade. Elephants are killed and their tusks ripped out for people who illegally trade in ivory. Other threats to the elephants are habitat destruction and negative and deadly interaction with humans.

Elephants never forget. I wonder what will happen in the next encounter between Ben and the poacher?

Dianne Erskine-Hellrigel is executive director of the Community Hiking Club and president of the Santa Clara River Watershed Conservancy. Contact Dianne through communityhikingclub.org or at zuliebear@aol.com.