Elephant Valley
Menu- WELCOME TO THE ELEPHANT VALLEY!
- FROM ASIA OR AFRICA?
- FROM THE LIFE OF ELEPHANTS
- WATER OVER GOLD
- BIG EATERS
- ELEPHANTS ENDANGERED
- HARD LIFE WITH ELEPHANTS
- HARD LIFE WITH PEOPLE
- PARTNERSHIP OF PEOPLE AND ELEPHANTS
- ELEPHANTS IN CEREMONIES
- ELEPHANTS AT WORK
- ELEPHANTS FROM PINNAWALA
- GANESHA
- ELEPHANTS IN HINDUISM
- THE SOVEREIGN WHITE ELEPHANT
- THE DREAM OF THE WHITE ELEPHANT
WATER ABOVE ALL
Elephants are dependent on water for their survival. As a result, the area in which the herd lives must contain at least one river or watering hole that the animals visit daily. For these sociable giants, proximity to water is not only an opportunity to quench their thirst, but a welcome chance to cool down and, above all, to meet, rest and play.
BATHING BEAUTIES
An elephant’s body can be compared to a powerful battery – it’s very easy for heat to build up in it and the body loses this heat only very slowly. It’s therefore no wonder that elephants are happy looking for a cold bath in their tropical homeland. They indulge themselves at least once a day!
There’s no bath like a bath
Elephants sometimes take mud baths instead of water baths. The wet mud cools just as well as water and the crust also protects the elephants against intrusive flies.
THERE HAVE TO BE RULES
A family group of cow elephants with small calves keep strict order when entering the water, which helps to ensure safety. The matriarch elephant goes first, and only when she has checked that there is no danger will the other mothers follow her with their young.
A TRUNK IS NOT A STRAW
The trunk is essential for an adult elephant for drinking. It doesn’t act as a straw through which an animal would suck water into its stomach, as we sometimes see in comics. It can be better compared to a syringe – an elephant draws water into it and subsequently squirts the water into its mouth.
AQUATIC JOURNIES
Elephants are excellent and steadfast swimmers. Thanks to this, they are better able to respond to changes in the food supply: as soon as there is a period of scarcity in one area, they embark on a journey to richer sources of food and don’t hesitate to surmount even large rivers on their way.
A trunk or a snorkel
While swimming, elephants are almost totally submerged under the surface and only the tops of their heads and the tips of their trunks stick out of the water. They can hence breathe just like a diver when snorkelling.