Like the giant sea monsters
that once stalked the
ocean floors,
an unlikely creature still
roams the earth.
So much like the treasured
whales of the seas,
elephants are the precious
last remnants of the
largest land animals in
the world.
Even a gigantic bull
will play away the day,
wallowing in the coolness of a
life that ambles along at
its won pace...
A life as long as our own,
but with so much more time
to be simply
what they are.
But this sense of calm and
meditation can be deceptive.
For a whole year one small
herd races against time
and the drying water holes.
Often the battle over the
precious water enrages them.
Two tiny calves are caught up
in this struggle,
coaxed through their early
years that are fraught
with dangers.
As large as they are,
elephants are sensitive
and gentle creatures.
Haunting discoveries of
burial rituals, language,
and understanding suggest
intelligence and even emotions.
These are the last of
a dying race.
Watching them, we can reflect,
not only on their complex behavior,
but on our own as well.
Join us for a few moments
and Reflections on Elephants.
Africa seldom relaxes.
It always seems to be waiting
for the gentler moments to pass.
Around rainwater pools strewn
across the dry country
of Botswana,
doves and sandgrouse stir up
the air in a frenzy to drink
before the soft edges
of the day burn off.
Elephants are is symbol
of the African wilderness,
woven into its fabric like the
blazing skies and the
endless savannas.
In the midst of a swirling
dance of smaller creatures,
huge males live separate lives
usually ignoring any passing
herds of females and calves.
Around these scattered water
holes they live out their
isolation,
slowly drawing life from
the earth's open wounds.
With a life-span of 60 years
or longer
elephants pursue the rhythms
of life at a leisurely but
determined pace.
Each movement is a calculated
conservation of energy,
each day a tiny investment
in legend.
In the crisp morning a herd
of females and calves
pads in silently from
the forest.
It is unusual for females like
these to wander into the
bull area,
But they are anxious.
It's been an eventful night.
A calf was born to the matriarch,
the leader of this herd.
From the first day
danger is every where.
The youngster is a female
and she will be guided carefully
through life by her mother
and the other family members.
Because elephant societies
are led by females
and her mother is a matriarch,
It is likely that one day
she too will have to carry on
that tradition of leadership.
But for now she seems
blissfully unaware of the
dangers of life,
more concerned with keeping close
to her mother
and balancing on
her one-day-old legs.
For this young calf,
lions will be a recurring
threat to her life.
Towering giants block the way.
The determined opportunist
is reluctant to go.
When the calf flounders
in the unfamiliar muddy water,
she panics.
But at this age,
help is seldom far away.
They bunch together,
protecting her within a wall
of legs and trunks.
Even the females have tusks
that lions must avoid.
Safe against the bank,
the little female has to contend
with another new challenge
The first bowel movement,
an unbalancing and
alarming experience
With the lions still menacing,
the matriarch must soon
move her calf
out of the water hole
With her front toenails
she breaks away the edges,
making a ramp for the short
strides of the baby.
As she leads her family
through the gauntlet of lions,
The matriarch's bloodstained
legs are a testament to
a stressful night
and a new beginning
The start of a long journey.
This journey takes place
in southern Africa.
Once elephants roamed over
most of this continent.
They still wander freely over all of
their ancestral range in Botswana,
one of the last havens
for wild elephants.
These seasonal movements of
following the water
cover over forty thousand
square miles
The matriarch is guiding her
herd along a network of
ancient paths.
She has decided to visit an
old site to supplement the
diet of the herd.
They dig open the holes and
turn the soil into fine,
white powder.
Locked inside the dust are
sodium and other
valuable minerals
that have leached into
these soils.
These mineral digs are
investigated, remembered,
and used...
A rudimentary form of
self-medication.
It's not long before she gives
the command to move on.
As they glide along
they communicate gently
in rumbles of very
low frequencies.
These sounds, almost silent to
us, drift over the herd...
just vibrations floating
in the dust.
Ahead, at the next water hole,
a tragic drama is unfolding.
Another calf has been
abandoned in the first few
days of its life.
Sometimes sick or old females
struggling to survive
do leave infant calves to fend
for themselves.
Innocent to the virtues of
silence in the dark,
the young elephant calls out
to the shadows.
The cry in answered.
But the hyena is nervous, wary
of the approaching elephants.
When the matriarch leads her
herd into the water,
they are drawn to the disturbance.
But with a long journey ahead,
this abandoned calf could be
a grave burden to the whole herd.
And he is rejected.
Perhaps the calls are too chilling,
and the herd returns.
The calf is caught up in the
swirl of running legs,
and swept off into the dark.
Adoption is rare in
most species,
but by daybreak the rescued
calf is part of the herd.
Now, however, he has even
greater challenges to deal with.
It's an adoption,
but by some strange twist of fate,
his new mother is the matriarch,
Who already has her
own newborn daughter.
He is immediately seen
as a competitor
for the rich-flavored milk.
Elephants rarely have
two calves at a time,
so usually there is no
competition for milk.
Whether the matriarch
adopted the calf
or the calf found the only
lactating female in the herd,
is hard to tell.
But his rescue is no
less than remarkable.
Now he faces a new threat...
starvation by sibling rivalry.
Probing and testing like
serpents coaxed out by a
charmer's flute,
Sensitive trunks dance for a
hidden delicacy.
Each shake is followed by
a moment's silence,
not in reverence, But to listen
for the seed pods falling.
These pods are
harvested annually.
The trees are seldom damaged...
unlike the robust mopane trees
that they smash down to get
to the nutritious upper leaves
A little bark from certain
acacias yields fatty acids
and minerals.
It is thought that the fiber
in the bark has medicinal sues
for elephants
as it does for humans.
Herds all over northern Botswana
are on the move now
traversing the corridors
of their memories...
Ancient trails that run
like long veins of life,
spreading out,
then converging on
the scattered water holes.
The most vulnerable are the
very young
By the age of three, fewer than
half the calves survive.
Some lions specialize in
outmaneuvering the herds,
Waging a constant way
of nerves.
Sometimes older calves
become isolated
separated because their mothers
have new young to look after.
These newborn can be
snatched up easily
and must be well guarded.
Often the older calves must
fend for themselves.
As harsh as it may seem,
it is necessary.
With animals that live so long
some deaths are important to
regulate the population.
Only in paradise is death banned
from claiming the weak.
At the water hole a lone male suddenly
feels the awakenings in his body.
It is the time of his musth.
Like the new dawn, this feeling
is fresh and vital.
He can take on anything.
Musth comes to males
once a year,
But only begins halfway
through their lives.
This is their breeding phase,
when high levels of testosterone turn
their thoughts to conquests.
Another bull has the same
feelings of elation today
and is also ready to
confront the world.
When a breeding herd of females
glides towards the combatants,
the silence is deceptive.
This victorious bull has already
heard the low rumbles
from an eager female
across the plain.
As he draws nearer,
she coyly breaks away.
And the chase is on.
He hunts her down.
She knows she is being hunted,
and with a smaller body weight
She could easily outrun him as
she has lesser suitors this week.
But this time she is willing
and stops
Elephant mating takes
a lot of cooperation.
This coordinates sexual readiness
of both male and female
is quite unique in animals
and for several days
they will stay together.
By soliciting this musth bull,
she has purposely
chosen her mate,
and wins as a prize his dominant
genes for her offspring.
Her calf will be born nearly
two years from now.
Waves of thirsty giants
stampede the water holes.
Anything in the way is
chased off.
But before rushing in,
they stop and test the air.
Each family, under the
leadership of their matriarch,
Maintains long-distance
contact with other groups.
As the groups meet
at the water holes,
they melt together to
become one clan again.
Here they congregate
and reinforce bonds.
Even after short separations,
Greetings are very active
and affectionate.
Screams of tension drive out
non-clan members;
Elephants tend to
avoid strangers.
But the large water holes
attract herds from all around,
Both wanderers and regulars
on this route.
All mass together,
but maintain their discrete
groups around the water hole,
hundreds or sometimes even
thousands at a time.
These gentle animals appear to
want to avoid stressful encounters.
With language skills of at least
twenty-five different concepts,
A complex "stacking" system is
at work at these water holes
When incoming herds signal,
the herd that was drinking
vacates the water.
In all this activity,
the matriarch has arrived.
Over the last two months
the adopted,
Smaller calf seems to have
worked out a way to survive.
The water is still an unfamiliar
experience for both calves.
The adopted calf,
possibly with less
pleasant associations,
is even more reluctant
to venture in,
despite the gentle coaxing.
Others are here for the
water as well.
As hundreds of buffalo
crowd in,
stress rumbles through the elephant
herds like an electric storm.
Boxed in by the huge
herd of buffalo,
the matriarch and her family
are forced to use the
steep side of the bank.
An older calf is
jostled into the water.
With the buffalo still threatening,
a quick rescue is mounted.
Displaying an intelligence of
communication and astounding logic,
The elephants divide their efforts.
Some fend off the buffalo while
others tend to the frantic calf.
Just a gentle stabilizer is needed
and a well-placed trunk does the job.
And still the matriarch
doesn't lead them away.
They need water before attempting
the long journey ahead.
In their eagerness to drink,
the smaller,
adopted calf is shoved over
the edge and into the mud.
Now the danger of a buffalo
stampede is even greater than before.
The thick mud sucks
at the calf's back legs.
Following the matriarch's lead
they all climb into the mud to help.
Desperate attempts to break down
the bank only make the problem worse.
The two females combine efforts,
using tusks and trunks like shovels
to keep the calf from drowning,
while another digs a ramp.
Together the two females squeeze
and push at the calf.
The suction underneath is
suddenly released
and the calf is free at last.
They tenderly reassure
and smell the youngster,
rescued for the second time
in his life.
The concerned herd now bunches
against the converging buffalo
Outrage runs like wildfire
among the herds,
sparking explosions of aggression.
But the buffalo keep pouring
out of the forest,
and dust hangs like smoke
on a battlefield.
The contest is finally resolved.
As the dust settles,
the buffalo disperse.
Somewhere in the confusion,
a young buffalo was struck
heavily in the head and side.
The calf is doomed,
injured beyond hope.
The two calves move off
with the herd.
Having avoided a
muddy death themselves.
The young buffalo's broken
body is left behind.
It causes some concern to the
departing elephants,
Suggesting an awareness
of in jury and death,
even of other species.
Like huge cathedrals
or ancient monoliths,
The solid shapes
block out the sun.
A long way from the
congregating female herds,
the bulls gently sway to a
rhythmic dance of the giants
A shuffle of constant adjustment
in a display of dominance
and submission.
Each one of these bulls has a rank
each responds to the next one.
Every newcomer to the
gathering provokes a reaction
that flashes through the
memories of all the contestants.
Anyone unsure of his status
soon learns the rules of
this tournament of giants.
Status is determined
by body size, rage;
tusks have little to do with it.
The contest is for water,
as usual.
In a classic bull area like Savuti,
up to 200 elephants compete
for this one resource.
In this melee they must constantly
be aware of who is around
A sensitive tail is an advantage.
With their head used like
huge medieval maces,
bodies jostle and tusks joust
for precious liquid.
This struggle may seem like a
chaotic free-for-all.
But with each changing combination,
the field plan of the hierarchy is reset
in a surprisingly orderly fashion
One ghostly form is excluded
from the commotion.
His gaunt features and
sagging skin
are sure signs of his age
and fading energy for life.
With his last set of grinding
teeth nearly worn away,
his days are numbered.
Too weak to join in,
he can only watch the
competing bulls, and wait.
By dusk his body cries out for the
moisture leached from it by the heat.
He can no longer resist,
and with fewer bulls around the water,
he makes his move.
Drawing himself up
to his full height,
he forces himself into the circle.
At last the drinks.
When a mud-covered,
dominant bull returns,
the ghostly elephant
should retreat.
But the water still
beckons him.
It is a mistake.
A jagged tusk slices through
the old skin into his neck.
The old bull goes down
with barely a struggle,
losing blood fast.
Even before the old bull dies,
a young male carries out a
bizarre mock-mating display.
This behavior can only
be explained
as an attempt to upgrade
his own status with this
show of domination.
The old bull dies quickly
and silently in the night,
though his fate was
long since determined.
Companions defend the
carcass against the hyenas,
a useless endeavor.
His body must continue
its usefulness to Africa,
even after his death.
Like an ancient burial ritual,
attention is paid
to every detail.
We don't yet understand
this behavior.
Is it a macabre fascination
with the dead
or perhaps a tribute to
a fallen companion?
And why is the ivory so often
the focus of these haunting
examinations?
As a week passes,
the carcass gradually
relinquishes its form.
There is no mythological
elephant graveyard,
no common place where bones
and tusks are taken...
just the eventual scatterings
in the dust.
As the last scavengers squabble
over the scraps of the body,
A few bulls remain,
perhaps still nurturing a special bond
with the old elephant.
Before we could really understand
his ways and the ways of his species,
The bull's spirit floats away.
Eight days and what was once
a giant of the world
is no more than just a memory,
just a reflection of a time
when elephants roamed Africa
from sea to sea and
ruled the continent.
Once again the clans are gathering,
marching for the rivers.
Paths interlace,
leaving behind a swath
of flattened vegetation.
This constant ebb and
flow of bodies
affects some areas
while resting others,
A balance that is
forever changing.
The females head for the best
feeding and good water,
not only for the living,
But for their unborn as well.
The final miles are covered
on the run toward the rivers.
Here the matriarch and
her calves will see out
the next three months
of the dry season.
Even in this chaotic clamor
for water,
The elephants show a sensitivity
and awareness of who is around them
and where their other clan
families are
After a grueling six months,
the calves,
possibly sensing that their
constant march is over
take on a new playfulness
and relax.
But now when the oppressive
heat stings their dark bodies,
They can hide from its burning fingers
Gradually the elephants drop down
like weary puppets at the end of a show.
both young and old drifting
into a rare sleepiness.
For them there are easy ways to
shut out the world.
They seldom allow themselves
to sleep for long.
Just a few minutes at a time are needed
by animals with such long, slow lives.
Only when they are all up
and ready will the matriarch
lead them out of the shade,
always keeping the herd together.
But sometimes things go wrong.
Occasionally calves are left
behind and wander around lost,
Testing each herd they approach.
When he sees the matriarch
and goes to greet the herd,
this young male is turned away
His best chance of being found
is to keep searching.
Despite their
good communication,
These separations are
inevitable.
Newborn calves have begun to
displace the older ones.
Unbeknown to him,
his real family is across the
plain heading into the forest.
Suddenly he finds himself
among lions.
Before he can turn away,
the juvenile is
locked in a deadly game.
But this time innocence is
matched by inexperience.
The lions are young and seem more
intent on experimenting thank killing.
Lions often prey on the weak,
but this calf is lost,
Not ailing... a determined
opponent with a thick hide,
not easy to penetrate.
But soon he tires and the
lions close in for the kill.
Quite suddenly the
experiment is over.
The lions are exhausted,
and lose interest.
The calf responds,
surprising the lions with his
new zest for life.
As they watch, he slips away.
What emotions elephants feel during
these struggles we do not know
That they do feel something
is quite apparent.
Back in the bull area,
when old bones have
all but turned to dust,
The mud relinquishes
a precious last reminder
of the old bull at the
water hole.
Like a trophy,
it is carried into the open,
displayed, and fondled.
Like a memory,
it is tasted and nurtured.
This haunting behavior is
difficult to understand.
How can we ever know
what elephants feel
and what form these emotions take
A mystery, forever.
When they attempt to destroy ivory
by smashing it against rocks
or try to crush tusks
by standing on them,
are they displaying a
new behavior...
a solemn response to the
atrocities of our time?
Or is this an ancient ritual
and if so what does it mean?
At the river the matriarch
leads her herd on a final push
for better feeding on the north bank.
Swimming is little
problem for elephants.
They share an ancestry with seagoing
mammals like dugongs and manatees.
Large, vacant, nasal and sinus cavities
keep their heavy heads afloat,
and their fat makes
them buoyant.
On the south bank a timid
young bull refuses to swim
and watches the herd disappear
By now the young bull has given up
all attempts at swimming.
The herd's ancient knowledge
has betrayed them this time.
For when they finally emerge
on the north bank,
They have crossed into another
country, Namibia.
The stranded young bull still
calls to them in alarm.
The herd is now fair game for
hunters poachers and traders
A wave of communication flashes back
and forth across the river.
Then, reacting as one,
they plunge into the water
so swim back to the young bull
Although by now the
exhausted young calves
are at risk of drowning
in the strong current,
A fatal conflict with man
has been avoided.
On the south bank greetings and
urgent reassurances flood from the herd,
But he will not be persuaded.
The herd gives up and remains
on the familiar and safer
soils of Botswana...
The end of the restless
journey for the matriarch
and her calves, for this year.
This may be the last
generation of elephants
to traverse these ancestral ranges,
the last truly free elephants.
As we succeed more
and more as a species,
They seem to trickle further
and further from our reach.
It has been said
that we could do worse
than mold our own lives
on those of elephants...
Lives filled with dignity
and gentle bearing, and time.
Perhaps we need more time
to understand those gentle
celebrations of life and death
that are like silent whispers
in the moonlight...
more time for reflections on elephants