My first views of wild African Elephants

There is a small family group of Elephants in the distance. Seeing them in the landscape is something new for me. I’ve only ever seen Elephants in captivity, like Duchess in Paignton Zoo.

The size difference between the youngsters and the adults is endearing.

Their skin looks so tough and their eyelashes are so bristly.

Their trunks are a marvel. When combined with their bristly lips, they make a sensitive and reactive means of browsing a variety of plants. I can see why they’re the perfect animal to study to create soft robotic arms.

Elephants are either right-trunked or left-trunked. They have a dominant tusk which they prefer to use when digging or stripping bark. It’s that tusk which gets worn away, rounded and becomes noticeably shorter.

This one is clearly right-trunked. Elephants split 50:50 in being right or left trunked.

Now I’m on the lookout for a left-trunked one.