Tag: elephant

Elephants are most impressive. A fully grown adult male will weight around 6,000kg (13,000lbs). The largest recorded specimen (in Angola 1956) was about 11,000kg (24,000lbs).

But for me the most impressive side is their intelligence. Whenever I meet them on Safari their behavior in such encounters sets them apart from all other mammals (with the exception of Primates). They are far less predictable than any other species and therefore have to be treated with a lot of respect and caution.

I met this beautiful specimen a few years ago in Namibia. And I will probably not surprise you when I tell you that I respectfully withdrew from his path 😊

Enjoy your day, stay home and stay safe!

PS: Check out my lock-down site for kiddies – with a new animal pictures every day! http://www.wildlife4kids.com

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Having fun after a mud bath!

Fun fact: Young elephant calves sometimes suck their trunks to help them relaxing when they are not feeding.

Many of us have to stay home in this worldwide crisis. So I thought you might enjoy to receive a wildlife image every day of the week until things are back to normal.

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This little Elephant enjoyed its mud bath at the Thanda Tented Camp waterhole 😊 Have a good weekend!

PS: The picture was taken with an iPhone XS Max and a set of Nikon Monarch Binoculars.

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This small Elephant calf is in the process of learning how to ‘operate’ its trunk.

For the first six to nine month of their life the Ellie babies do not know what to do with this incredible versatile tool which functions as a hand, a nose, and a drinking cup (not as a straw because they do not drink through their trunk. They just use it to suck water into it and the deposit the water into their mouth).

Enjoy your upcoming week!

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“I will be big soon and then you will be afraid of me, just wait …”

This little African Elephant calf displayed all the signs of intimidation to scare me away and got very frustrated when I would not move.

At the encounter on Friday evening the baby’s mum was very calm and looked rather amused on her offsprings behavior 😊

Have a good week!

Check out the video from this sighting at https://youtu.be/hivicSRuHEk

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This impressive African Elephant bull followed a breeding herd away from a local waterhole.

In the background is the Intibane Lodge, the home of Ulwazi Research, which is Thanda Safari’s Volunteer Program.

In case you are interested in volunteering: https://www.ulwaziresearch.com

Enjoy your week!

… and as a bonus picture the family group he followed …

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uMkhanyakude is the name of the northernmost district in KwaZulu-Natal.

Thanda Safari – where I live and work – is located on the eastern border of this very rural district. It contains many areas of outstanding natural beauty such as the St Lucia greater wetland park, Hluhluwe-Umfolozi, Tembe Elephant Park and – of course – Thanda.

The picture shows a herd of African Elephants moving thru the rolling hills of the district.

Have a good week!

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A newborn African Elephant weighs about 90kg / 200lbs and is about 1m / 3″ tall.

At first, Baby Elephants don’t really know what to do with their long noses, sometimes they even step on them.

They will suck their trunks just as human babies will suck their thumbs.

Have a good weekend!

#Christiansperkaphotography @christiansperkaphotography #thandasafari @thandasafari