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Elephant
Visitors to the monolith Kruger National Park in South Africa can look forward to a spellbinding experience that includes witnessing species of the Big 5; possibly the biggest of the 5 is the African elephant, which is also the largest land mammal on earth.
One of the elephant’s most distinguishing features is its trademark trunk; biologists estimate that there are nearly 40 000 muscles in the trunk, thus making it multi-functional and able to carry out a wide range of tasks. For example, their trunks allow them to knock over large trees and carry staggering quantities of water. Besides the trunk, an elephant is widely renowned for its ivory tusks. These tusks grow continuously with the male elephant’s pair growing at approximately 18cm per year; tusks are generally used to dig for water, salt, or roots, de-bark trees, and even as occasional weapons. Like humans who are right or left-handed, elephants are right or left-tusked. Sadly, the growing appetite for these tusks have directly led to the decline of the elephant population as they are increasingly poached and harvested for economic and commercial purposes.
Visitors to the Kruger National Park should be on the look out for elephants wallowing in mud and water holes. This seemingly playful sight serves the purpose of regulating the elephant’s body temperature as well as protecting its sensitive skin against harmful UV rays. Elephants have appeared in various cultures across the world and are well known for their intelligence and memory capacities. Because of their large brains, they have complex patterns of communication and are able to recognise certain human beings as well as members of their own species. In addition, it has been reported that elephants tend to follow similar patterns throughout the years, leading to the conclusion that their memories are likely passed down through the generations.