The other day on the news, I saw a segment about the Ringling Brothers Circus elephants. The organization had retired the elephants due to pubic pressure about circus life and the mistreatment of the animals. So, since retirement, 35 elephants have been “held” in a small facility, which wasn’t much better than their circus days. I should say, here, that in the wild, the Asian elephant is the largest land mammal on the Asian continent.
Thankfully, along came a group of caring people, a wildlife non-profit group. They contacted Ringling about buying the elephants outright. The deal was struck. The group then purchased 2500 acres in Florida. It is located just south of the Georgia state line. And now, they’ve built a large wildlife outdoor roaming environment for the great beasts and moved most of them there.
The place is called the White Oak Conservationist Center. It is not open to the public, in case anyone has any thoughts of visiting. So now, those elephants are living happy and free. I watched the video. They quickly built their hierarchy and established their kind and loving ways within the group, rubbing heads and holding trunks. Asian elephants are extremely sociable, and they form groups of six or seven related females. That group is led by the oldest female, the matriarch. Girl power.
However, since the Ringling elephants were raised by humans, there is no hope of ever returning them to the wild. They are still fed and cared for at their new home.
I should also remind everyone that their status is currently endangered. There are less than 50,000 Asian elephants on the planet. Oh, what have we done?
Despite their overall predicament, I can say this story made my heart leap — big happy leaps.
I love elephants, both varieties, the Asian and the African. If you ever have a hard time telling them apart, look at the ears. The ears of African elephants are much larger. The experts say those ears are also shaped like the African continent, whereas the ears of Asian elephants are shaped like India. Both continents look pretty alike in shape, if you ask me.
But, there’s also a difference in their trunks. African elephants have two fingers at the tip of their trunks, whereas Asian elephants have one.
Speaking of their trunks, they are incredible appendages. If you can call them that. Elephants have around 150,000 muscle units in their trunks.
It is, perhaps, the most sensitive organ found in any mammal — the elephant trunk. Asian elephants have been seen to pick up a peanut, shell it, blow the shell out and eat the nut. And I have trouble successfully using a fork, sometimes.
We have all seen elephants drink. The trunk can contain about 2 gallons of water at one time. They also use their trunks as snorkels when swimming. The picture of that makes me happy too.
By far, the coolest thing about elephants is the way they communicate. They use a lot of different audible sounds, like trumpet calls, for instance. But, some of those sounds are too low for people to hear. Their secret language. They use other methods, too, like body language, touch, and scent.
Finally, the most amazing method of their communications is their use of seismic signals. They create sounds that make vibrations in the ground. Scientists think they detect these “sounds” through their bones.
So, those good elephants in Florida. Snowbirds now. I hope they are happy, doing what elephants should be doing. Not riding around on little tricycles and balancing on top of big rubber balls.
That job should be left for us humans in the clown suits.
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“The Earth is what we all have in common.”
—Wendell Berry
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“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”
-George Bernard Shaw
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“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference and you have to decide what kind of a difference you want to make.”
—Jane Goodall
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Elephant talk. Free and happy.
