World Elephant Day, August 12, 2017. This is the fifth World Elephant Day, a global event launched in 2012. This year numerous organizations dedicated to elephants are honoring this day in a […]
Living Dinosaurs
Could elephants really become extinct in our lifetimes? Media coverage is now referring to elephants as “living dinosaurs.” An oxymoron? Not really. More of a prediction. A grim future for elephants is […]
Cures for Cancers
Did you know that elephants rarely get cancer? For some time, scientists have been studying the incidence of cancer in various animals and have been baffled by the absence of cancer in […]
Life Insurance
The African elephant’s natural life span in the wild is up to 70 years. The median age is 56, meaning that half die before 56 and half live to be older than […]
The Fate of the Forest Elephant
I wrote about the forest elephant in September upon my return from the Republic of Congo. The thrill of seeing these secretive creatures notwithstanding, our visit was overshadowed in spirit by descriptions […]
Elephant Numerology
On New Year’s Eve, in his address to the nation, President Kikwete of Tanzania renewed his pledge to fight poaching, citing shocking new survey numbers: the elephant population in the huge Selous Game […]
The Intelligent Gift of Knowledge
Elephants are among the most intelligent creatures in the “animal world.” Some of their most remarkable acts of intelligence include empathy; highly complex social structures; the ability to recognize themselves in a […]
Crooked Tusks
Tusks are teeth. Elephants and their ancestors developed these elongated incisors for a variety of reasons, from digging dirt for salt and water and pealing bark for food to establishing themselves as […]
A Lot of Bull
Male elephants, called bull elephants, reach puberty around age 13, and leave the comfort of the breeding herd to head out on their own to propagate the species. Until recently, it was […]
Elephant Voices
An elephant that speaks Korean? The New York Times reports (click here) there is a young male elephant (at the Everland Zoo in South Korea) that can speak Korean by putting his […]
