In Zimbabwe, I seek for a unprecedented elephant who’s discovered to face on two legs to succeed in the very best leaves.
African Elephants are the most important land mammals on earth, standing as much as 11 toes tall, weighing over 6 tonnes, and residing in enormous herds of as much as 100 people.
By standing on their hind legs, just a few elephants have taken their power to a brand new stage
Mana Swimming pools, Zimbabwe
Mana Swimming pools is house to 12,000 elephants – the second largest focus in Zimbabwe – and some people listed here are identified world wide for the distinctive capability to face on their again legs. The approach provides them the sting over rivals since they will attain excessive up into the timber to feed when vegetation decrease down has dried up. One of many wonderful issues about Mana Swimming pools is the flexibility to look at wildlife on foot. With the assistance of a educated native information you will get actually shut!
An elephant named Fred
And it is not lengthy earlier than our knowledgeable information introduces us to a big bull elephant named Fred. Fred is likely one of the people right here who has mastered the talent of standing on his again legs – actually he was named after Fred Astaire due to the fragile method he dances as he shifts his weight into his again legs. Sadly for us, there was sufficient vegetation inside attain so he did not carry out for us the day we noticed him.
Boswell
However our information takes us throughout the savannah and shortly we discover Boswell, an elephant so well-known for this trick he was named after a South African circus. Boswell has turn into well-known world wide after showing on YouTube performing this talent and he is simple to identify. One in every of his tusks is bigger than the opposite and he wears a monitoring collar which helps conservationists preserve observe of his herds’ actions. He additionally has a really brief, stumpy tail! Watching him rock backwards to shift his weight on to his again legs, after which attain up into the branches of a tall tree you possibly can see why he is so admired.
It could possibly’t be simple getting his weight off the bottom, however when one other bull elephant tries to feed from the identical tree you possibly can see that it is well worth the effort. Boswell clearly has the benefit over the others within the herd.
Elephants
Elephants can eat nicely over 100kgs of meals a day and so they additionally drink as much as 200l of water – at a charge of three litres a second – and searching round you possibly can see how the panorama has been formed by these goliaths. As soon as the decrease leaves have been stripped, youthful elephants observe Boswell, eager to make the most of his feeding technique!
I got here to Zimbabwe with the hope of witnessing this outstanding behavioural adaptation and Boswell has given a lot extra!
Wildlife journey
If you would like to observe in my footsteps to look at elephants in Zimbabwe, go to my journey web page right here: https://www.robertefuller.com/pages/travel-africa
