You’d be brave indeed…

…to confront this elephant cow on her home turf.  She might be gentle, but she’s so big that you’d have to be careful anyway!  Elephants fascinate me.  They have long distance communication using subsonics, both through rumbles and the pads of their feet.  They communicate across many kilometers, hearing the sounds transmitted up from the foot bones all the way up to their ears.  They do indeed have long memories.  Not only could a calf following her mother across the savanna during a drought remember that same water hole the next time, but she could lead her herd there fifty years later when she hadn’t been there in the interim.  It’s been said that a farmer who hurts an elephant herd will often find his crops destroyed by night-raiding elephants – he himself will be uninjured, and so will be the farms of his neighbors.  I often wonder if elephants are sapient.   This particular lady was seen at my local zoo this weekend.  She kept putting branches on her back and carrying them around.

My sketch is going up first, then later I’ll upload the finished ink.  So if you like this sketch, check back!

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/brave/