Archives for On Elephants

Elephants’ Cognition

Elephants are very much like us in their behaviour, protectiveness of their young, and devotion to family. Cynthia Moss, world renowned ethologist, tells a loving story involving a family of African elephants:

“Two members of the family were shot by poachers, who were subsequently chased off by the remaining elephants. Although one of the elephants died, the other, named Tina, remained standing, but with knees beginning to give way. Two family members, Trista and Teresia (Tina's mother), walked to both sides of Tina and leaned in to hold her up. Eventually, Tina grew so weak, she fell to the ground and died. However, Trista and Teresia did not give up but continually tried to lift her. They managed to get Tina into a sitting position, but her body was lifeless and fell to the ground again. As the other elephant family members became more intensely involved in the aid, they tried to put grass into Tina's mouth. Teresia then put her tusks beneath Tina's head and front quarters and proceeded to lift her. As she did so, her right tusk broke completely off, right up to the lip and nerve cavity. The elephants gave up trying to lift Tina but did not leave her; instead, they began to bury her in a shallow grave and throw leaves over her body. They stood over Tina for the night and then began to leave in the morning. The last to leave was Teresia." (From 'Elephant Cognition')

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Support for Elefantes en Argentina!

Elephant Minds apoya el trabajo y la dedicación de los voluntarios de Elefantes en Argentina. EAR es un grupo interdisciplinario integrado por entusiastas, estudiantes y profesionales (y muchos amigos!). Está conformado como un programa del Instituto Jane Goodall Argentina. EAR también se encuentra inscripto en Roots & Shoots Latin America/Caribbean Puerto Rico. Read More
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About elephants…

The trunks of elephants are extremely versatile. They can be used as a tool for many tasks. Elephants can shift logs weighing up to 600 kilograms and at the same time pick up something as small as a coin! Trunks have no bones but do have over 80,000 muscles, which are very flexible. It is usually 2 meters long and weighs around 140 kilograms. The Asian elephant has one finger on the end of the trunk, the African has two. Read More
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Sobre elefantes…

Sabían que Elefante en latín (ele y fante) significa el Gran Arco! La palabra ‘elefante’ tiene origen en el Latín y el Griego. Elephas, en griego elephos representa a una bestia con cuernos o un ciervo. En Latín, ele significa arco y fante significa enorme. El término Loxodonta, utilizado para describir el elefante africano, significa dientes en forma de rombo. Read More
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More on Elephants…

Elephants are NOT born with survival instincts; they learn behaviour, like humans, as they grow up, throughout their lives. For a period of about 10 years they have a large amount of learning to undergo. Parents-females in particular-play a crucial role by teaching the young to feed, relate to others, use tools and communicate Read More
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