Our 21st daily #BrightenYourDay video takes us to Chobe National Park, #Botswana to watch #elephants.
An elephant's trunk is the most versatile organ in the animal kingdom - it is a combination of an elongated upper-lip and a super-sensitive nose, a delicate hand, a flexible muscular arm and a drinking vessel. But with more than 100,000 muscle units, it takes years for a baby elephant to learn how to use it properly. On the banks of the Chobe River in Botswana, these mothers quench their thirst, drawing water into the lower part of the trunk, closing the flap at the end then lifting and tilting it into the mouth to drink. As they do so, their babies twirl and splash with their rubbery trunks, exploring the feel of the cool water, then eventually sticking their face in to drink with their mouth, keeping the trunk tip above the water. For them, security means being surrounded by a walking forest of huge columnar legs and gently caressing trunks, belonging to their mothers and aunties, all of whom share child-care duties in this matriarchal society to keep the babies safe from predators.
If you enjoy this, look out for 'Swimming Trunks' on Newsflare and you'll see that an elephants' trunk can also act as a snorkel when swimming in deep water. Crossing back and forth across the river takes these elephants to and from Namibia, complicating issues of human-wildlife conflict if they raid crops. Fortunately they benefit from the KAZA TFCA https://www.kavangozambezi.org/…/inf…/kaza-conservation-area - which facilitates collaborative wildlife management across five nations in southern Africa.