Elephants, Elephants and more elephants.
Elephants are highly social animals. Their complex society focuses on maintaining group cohesion and a strict discipline regime ensures social order at all times. Due to their enormous size, elephants could cause serious damage to themselves and each other if their social behaviour was not regulated and ritualised. Herd life predominantly revolves around guarding, rearing and teaching calves, activities engaged in by all herd members.
Elephants practise a matriarchal society. Females live in herds of related individuals with their successive offspring. The oldest cow is known as the matriarch. Bulls leave the herd once they reach puberty(12-14 years old)
Elephants are a keystone species meaning that they influence the healthy functioning of the ecosystems and even survival of particular species.
Elephants are herbivores- They consume about 5% of their body weight per day- So an adult bull can consume up to 300kg of vegetation per day. Only 40% of the dung is digested. A bull elephant may expel up to 155kg of dung
a day.
–Game Ranger in you Backpack – Megan Emmett, Sean Pattrick–
Elephants are known as the giants of the bush, even though they are so big they a extremely quiet.
For the last two weeks the elephants have been very active on the reserve and a day would not be complete without seeing at least a herd or two strolling past the lodge.
The elephants made for the most spectacular sightings. On a number of occasions guests got to enjoy them: Swimming, playing, sand bathing and young ones interacting.
One of the big tuskers of the reserve called “Phulani” also made his appearance- He is in full musth and can be smelt kilometres away. Even though is one of the bigger Bulls of the Reserve he is very docile. .
But if he comes strolling down the road he is definitely given the benefit of doubt and will any- and everyone make way for this majestic animal!!