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Writer's pictureChristine Caccipuoti

It Makes Me Happy: World Elephant Day


A young elephant stands in profile, facing right, on dirt track, browsing on grass
I saw this adorable young elephant while on safari in Kenya's Mara Conservancy in 2018

Happy World Elephant Day!


Each year on August 12th, the world pauses to celebrate the majesty of elephants. If we were living in my fantasy timeline, we would be doing this because elephants were revered, respected, and protected everywhere, all the time.


Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. As it stands, instead of thriving, all species of elephants (that includes African savanna elephants, African forest elephants, and Asian elephants) are in danger of becoming extinct. Why? Myriad reasons that are not limited to that humans are expanding into wild areas and destroying their habitats, abusing elephants for profit and entertainment, hunting them for sport, and blatantly murdering them to collect the ivory from their tusks and sell it around the world. The Sheldrick Trust gives a detailed explanation of the dangers elephants face here.


If the situation is so dire, why am I filing this under my It Makes Me Happy umbrella? The answer is simple but two-fold: elephants bring me joy and days like today, where people join together across the globe to raise awareness, get inspired, and take action make me hopeful. Together, we can make the world a safer place for elephants and that, in turn, will benefit us all. There is nothing like seeing elephants in their native habitat, living their lives with grace and intelligence. I can only continue to hope that we see their numbers rise.


Below you’ll find my extensive entry discussing elephant and elephant conservation facts, ways to help, and some progress that makes me happy. If (and I get it!) you want to skip all that text, scroll down or click here to go to the section marked Additional Resources and Ways to Help. There, you will find links to all the methods of aid I suggest in the main text, many of my favorite sanctuaries and conservation organizations, further reading ideas (non-fiction and fiction!), and more.

 

A Few of My Favorite Elephant (and Elephant Conservation) Facts

  • Elephants are a keystone species. That means their existence is important to maintaining a balanced, healthy habitat. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) elephants, “create, modify, or maintain the landscape around them. They influence the prevalence and activities of other organisms and help define the overall biodiversity of their habitat.” They do this by altering the landscape as they walk long distances and move and eat various plants and by spreading seeds through their dung.

  • Elephants can be hairy. Despite loving elephants for all of my life, just how hairy an elephant can be (especially a baby!) really surprised me. See for yourself in this absolutely adorable video of Naisimari, a little elephant who was rescued by Reteti Elephant Sanctuary…which also happens to be the first community-owned elephant sanctuary in Africa and the home of some of Africa’s first woman elephant keepers!

  • Elephant species have different characteristics. When I was first learning about elephants I remembered the difference between African and Asian elephants like this: African elephants have huge ears that somewhat resemble the shape of Africa and Asian elephants are more forehead and less ear. There are many other differences, though, too! For example, both African and Asian elephants have points at the tip of their trunks they function like fingers, they help grab and pick things. However, African elephants have two and Asian elephants only have one. Learn more about their differences at the Global Sanctuary for Elephants.

  • Elephants are afraid of bees. Yes, it’s true. This discovery had led to projects like Elephants and Bees which seeks to use beehives as fences between the wilderness and populated areas/crops. The objective is to prevent crop damage as well as human-elephant violent conflict by causing the elephants to want to remain in the wild and away from the bees they severely dislike.

  • Elephants are matriarchal. That’s right. The matriarch is often one of the more mature female elephants in the herd. She will dictate things like where they move, how they get there, and when they move on. She will also be the one who calls the shots regarding threats to the herd and how to handle them. It's a huge responsibility. You can read more about matriarchs from the Tsavo Trust here.

  • Elephants 'speak' in ways we cannot hear. In addition to the famous elephant sounds of trumpeting and rumbling (which you can learn about through the fabulous site Hello in Elephant) research indicates that elephants also use seismic waves as a method to communicate. Seismic waves are "vibrations occurring underground and along the earth’s surface—which, depending on the soil type, can travel farther than the counterpart waves we hear moving through the air." It must help them keep their secrets.

  • Elephants remember who helped them and will return to see their human families even after they have returned to the wild. The Sheldrick Trust often talks about how their rewilded orphans like to return, especially when they have a new baby to show the keepers! Read about one such instance here.

  • Elephants might have 'names' for each other. A recent study found that it is possible that elephants might use specific sounds to speak to each other, and that what we might consider a rumbling might be what they consider their 'name.' Read more here.

 

Christine, a white woman with long brown hair, wearing a grey shirt and blue sunglasses, reaches through green bars to pet a brown elephant named Ambo on the trunk while he eats a stick
The magical day in 2018 when I met my foster elephant Ambo as he got ready for bed at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi, Kenya. He has since grown up and re-entered the wild!

Ways to Help

Every day is a good day to spread the word about the importance of elephants and the dangers they face, but World Elephant Day is especially wonderful because many elephant sanctuaries, conservation projects, and advocacy groups will amplify your actions in one way or another. I’m always on the lookout for fun ways to help elephants and here are some of my favorites:

  • Get out there and run (or walk!)

    • Join the Saving the Elephants Run/Walk! Each November, elephant lovers participate in a 5k or 10k around New York’s Central Park to benefit the Zambezi Elephant Fund. You don’t have to be able to make it to New York to participate though, there’s a virtual option that allows you to participate anywhere in the world!

  • No money? No problem.

    • You don’t have to be rich to help elephants. At the bottom of this post I’ve included a list of some of my favorite elephant-helping organizations. They all have internet presences. Most of them are extremely active in promoting elephant education through social media posts or on their websites. Visit them, read them, and share them. Raising awareness and creating empathy is always a good idea. Every time you help another person realize why we should be protecting elephants, you are helping the elephants, too, because they have gained another advocate.

    • Speak out, sign petitions, and contact officials when you learn about elephant mistreatment. For example, many tourist locations (especially in Asia) will offer elephant rides. Do not participate in it. There is no such thing as an elephant who is happy to give you a life. If an elephant allows this, you can be certain that they are being routinely horrifically abuse. Also, pay attention to what your local zoos are doing. Elephants are not meant for captivity. Be careful about the places you choose to visit and don’t be afraid to express concern and call for captive elephants to be moved to sanctuaries. Your voice matters.

  • Give a little money (through special—and fun!—donation methods)

 

Five large Asian elephants gather around a circular platter eating the fruits and vegetables on it. They appear to be smiling.
This beautiful image was sent to me by the folks at Samui Elephant Haven. You can see their residents have almost fully devoured the elephant cake I donated! All credit goes to them for this image. Visit samuielephanthaven.org for more information.

Progress that Makes Me Happy

 

Working to save the elephant population of the planet is a huge job, but there are so many ways you can participate in it…and the more people who do, the better off we will be. Elephants make me happy, and I hope they make you happy, too. Whether you found this on World Elephant Day or otherwise, I am glad you have read this far. May you be moved to help our planet by helping these magical creatures go from hunted to honored. In the end, we all benefit.


A profile shot of a life-sized model of a baby elephant with large ears and bright blue eyes
In 2023, I visited Disneyland in California. There, I got to see this model figure, used to create Dumbo for the 2019 live-action film.


Additional Resources and Ways to Help

 

 



 

 

 







Elephant Sanctuaries, Conservation Foundations, and Advocacy Groups

 



 


 


 

 






 

 




Books (Non-Fiction)


Lawrence Anthony (with Graham Spence), The Elephant Whisperer.

 

Carol Bradley, Last Chain on Billie.


Paul Chambers, Jumbo: This Being the True Story of the Greatest Elephant in the World.

 

Françoise Malby-Anthony, An Elephant in My Kitchen.


---, The Elephants of Thula Thula.


Daphne Sheldrick, Love, Life, and Elephants: An African Love Story

 

---, The Unsung Heroes.


 

Books (Fiction)


Katherine Applegate, The One and Only Ruby.

 

Barbara Gowdy, The White Bone.

 

Vaseem Khan, The Baby Ganesh Detective Agency Series.

---, (#1) The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra.

---, (#2) The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown.

---, (#3) The Strange Disappearance of a Bollywood Star.

---, (#4) Murder at the Grand Raj Palace.

---, (#5) Bad Day at the Vulture Club.

 

James Patterson and Ellen Banda-Aaku with Sophia Krevoy, The Elephant Girl.


Jodi Picoult, Leaving Time.

 

Nancy Richardson Fischer, When Elephants Fly.


Linda Stanek (author) and Shennen Bersani (illustrator), Once Upon an Elephant


  

Elephants in (Footnoting) History

 



Past Blog Posts 



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