Elephants - Amazing Animals

On June 19^th of this year, over a ton of confiscated ivory was crushed in a rock crusher in Times Square NYC. It was highlighting the illegal trade that threatens African elephants’ survival. The Wildlife Conservation Society says the global ivory trade is responsible for the slaughter of as many as 35,000 elephants a year in Africa. Those facts sickened me when I read it.

 

John Calvelli, the society’s executive vice president for public affairs, said “Crushing ivory in Times Square – literally at the crossroads of the world – says in the clearest of terms that the U.S. is serious about closing its illegal ivory markets and stopping the demand. The event was organized by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, New York state agencies and the Wildlife Conservation Society, which runs New York City’s zoos. The crush was one of several ivory destruction events that have been held around the world to stigmatize the ivory trade. The Times Square ivory will be combined with the six tons that was crushed in Denver in 2013 and used to create a memorial to elephants.

The newspaper article reminded me of an article in the April 2015 Reader’s Digest “The Day the Elephants Danced” by Vicki Constantine Croke. It was about a British man, James Howard Williams, (called Billy) who moved to Burma and took a job as forest assistant with the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation so he could work with elephants. His experience working with them convinced him they were very intelligent animals.

One experience reinforced that belief. In the late 1920’s there was a large backlog of teak logs, smaller ones in the front graduating to massive ones in the back, awaiting in a dry river bed for the start of the monsoon rains for the logs to flow downstream.  When the heavy rains started a major problem was realized. Because a new railroad bridge crossed the river eight miles downstream, logs hitting the abutments supporting the bridge could cause its collapse. Williams, in charge of the elephants and their riders, quickly called for Poo Ban and Poo Gyi, two tuskers besides being big and strong were also what elephant riders called “wise old animals.”

A large tense crowd of villagers came to watch as Poo Ban and Poo Gyi arrived and were ordered into the water. The animals calmly strolled out and the riders positioned one elephant in front of each abutment.  When they were in place, the riders scrambled up on the abutments and shouted “Coming left” or Coming right” as the first smaller teak logs came. Immediately the elephants with casual grace caught each log using tusks and trunks and diverted it towards the center of the river so it would miss the abutments.

A backup pair of elephants waited to take over when Poo Ban and Poo Gyi tired, but the elephants worked on and on diverting the logs. The tuskers were good, and even when the pace picked up as larger and much heavier logs arrived, the elephants held their ground – left tusk, right tusk. Williams wasn’t the only one thrilled by their skill. Over the load crashing of the logs, the cheers of the crowd were heard. Williams was afraid to add the other two elephants for fear they’d get in each other’s way. Just when he feared the two old elephants couldn’t go on, they began to turn around. Their riders frantically shouted at them to stop, but they didn’t listen. They turned their rumps to the logs and did a hula-hula dancing movements, allowing logs to ricochet off their rumps into the center of the river. The crowd erupted into laughter and cheers. When just a few logs were coming, Poo Ban and Poo Gyi were replaced by the pair in waiting. After it was over, Williams said, “It was a triumph for the jumbos, and not one log damaged the pier.”

I went to Google and found the article “7 Behaviors That Prove Elephants Are Incredibly Smart”

One: They can identify Languages.

Two: They can use tools.

Three: They understand human body language.

Four: They show empathy.

Five: They mourn their dead.

Six: They mimic human voices.

Seven: They have extraordinary memories.

To learn more about the research done on the above facts and to see some awesome and touching videos of each, Google “7 Behaviors That Prove Elephants are Incredibly Smart.” It is well worth the time spent.

Seven years ago I read the book Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen, a fictional book published in 2006 that was on many bestseller lists because of her research into how circus animals were treated, especially the elephant Rosie, who became one of the characters. If you haven’t read it, you should. Everyone in both of my book clubs was impressed with it.

two old circus elephants reunited after 20 years.

Billy Williams believed that living with elephants made him a better man. He fought for their humane care in the teak business. When Japanese forces invaded Burma in 1942, Williams joined the elite British Force1136, operating a team of war elephants that carried supplies, built bridges, and transported the sick and elderly over treacherous mountain terrain. You can read more about him in the book Elephant Company by Vicki Constantine Croke.

What do you find interesting about elephants?

Would you like to work with elephants?