This is the adorable moment two young elephants in Addo Elephant National Park in South Africa were seen slapping each other over the head with their trunks in a play fight. Their moment was captured by professional photographer Anne Laing, 59, from Pretoria, South Africa, who has been taking pictures for around 35 years.
As you can see in the cute snaps, the African elephants are learning how to use and control their trunks. One of the young animals lightly hitting its sibling's head with its trunk, before the other one retaliates and hits back. The two youngsters gently push up against each other and get in a tangle during the play fight.
The photographer said young elephants often twist their trunks while play-fighting. They mimic this behavior from adults as this is a form of greeting. This behavior also teaches them how to fully control their trunks.
“Until they’re three months old they don’t have control of their trunks and they just flop around but as they get older they have to be able to use them as humans would use an arm, hand and straw – for drinking water.”
“Water is critical to elephants as they need to drink every day, with adults drinking up to 150 litres per day. After drinking, they use their trunks to spray their bodies with water to keep cool. They often have to walk many miles to find water to drink and then walk many more miles away from the water again so need to try and keep cool.”
In another tender moment, a mother elephant was snapped caressing her baby with her trunk – their trunks are very sensitive to touch.”
Anne said: “I try and do as many wildlife trips as possible and hope to get to Antarctica one day. I also hope to shoot the next Rugby World Cup and the Olympics in Japan.”
The baby elephants are so friendly and cute. It's so happy to see them enjoying life in their natural environment.
Please share this post with your friends and family members!
h/t: catersnews
As you can see in the cute snaps, the African elephants are learning how to use and control their trunks. One of the young animals lightly hitting its sibling's head with its trunk, before the other one retaliates and hits back. The two youngsters gently push up against each other and get in a tangle during the play fight.
Image credit: MERCURY PRESS
The photographer said young elephants often twist their trunks while play-fighting. They mimic this behavior from adults as this is a form of greeting. This behavior also teaches them how to fully control their trunks.
“Until they’re three months old they don’t have control of their trunks and they just flop around but as they get older they have to be able to use them as humans would use an arm, hand and straw – for drinking water.”
Image credit: MERCURY PRESS
“Water is critical to elephants as they need to drink every day, with adults drinking up to 150 litres per day. After drinking, they use their trunks to spray their bodies with water to keep cool. They often have to walk many miles to find water to drink and then walk many more miles away from the water again so need to try and keep cool.”
In another tender moment, a mother elephant was snapped caressing her baby with her trunk – their trunks are very sensitive to touch.”
Image credit: MERCURY PRESS
Anne said: “I try and do as many wildlife trips as possible and hope to get to Antarctica one day. I also hope to shoot the next Rugby World Cup and the Olympics in Japan.”
The baby elephants are so friendly and cute. It's so happy to see them enjoying life in their natural environment.
Please share this post with your friends and family members!
h/t: catersnews