Mud and Sand!

As Elephants cannot sweat they had to come up with other methods to keep cool or cool down.

They pump a lot of blood through large veins in their flapping ears (which represent about 20% of their body surface), they throw wet mud on themselves using their trunks as large mud cannons, on very hot days they spend a lot of time submerged in water, and they try to stay in shady places.

The deep grooves on their skin help them to stay wet for a while after a bath. The evaporating water adds additional cooling.

And after a mud bath they love to add a layer of sand to protect their skin from the sun and parasites.

The bull in this picture had a bath, flapped his ears, mudded himself, and then applied a layer of sand to complete the perfect Elephant spa treatment. He even tried to spray some of the mud at our vehicle, but we stayed well out of his reach.

Technical data (right): Canon R6 with RF lens f4-6.3/24-240mm | ISO 160 | 1/500sec | f6.3 | ev+0 | 160 mm | WB 6500K | AV Mode

Technical data (left): Canon R6 with RF lens f4-6.3/24-240mm | ISO 320 | 1/500sec | f6.3 | ev+0 | 170mm | WB 6500K | AV Mode

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