Magical families…human and elephant

July 7, 2014 Jen

I write down all my memories. I explain the serenity and solace of untrampled lands and the pure joy of experiencing the melody of silence. The awe ones feels when in the presence of wildlife in the bush and the thrill of speeding up an untamed river. This I am doing for my grand children as I weave the threads and play a part in their life journeys.

They both know right from wrong and I encourage questions feeling like I need a bigger bra when Kayleigh (6) writes some profound words on life and on passing her little note to her mum, asks her to post it to Africa. While I am teaching them that they are the authors of their lives, and that each day is a new page, my heart pounds like a heavy hammer against my rib cage. Corruption and greed is fast destroying these same links in the fascinating world of elephants.

I love the erth. It is the most specolest planet ever. Love Kayleigh. I liv in the UK. KBJ loves elees.

This money for the elees. To save the world.

(Took a few repeats from the author and rolling of eyes towards the ceiling when I took to long to decipher her note)

My mum, 85 years old plays a huge part in the family circle. Sadly her links with family members are stretched tight as they span over vast distances as we are now scattered all over the world. She shares her precious memories which offer breath taking glimpses into her past where the pulse of Africa throbbed beneath her feet and the cerulean sky drifts into infinity. She pines for her children, grand children and great grand children living in distant lands, and enjoys the ones who are close by. Elephants are no different from us.

Humans and elephants have so many things in common: our life span is similar and we have a parallel rate of development, maturing into adulthood from anything between eighteen to twenty five years. Elephants, like humans feel love and loyalty for their families, and have a strong sense of death, pining and mourning just as we do. Like us, they will ‘bury’ their dead, covering the body with sticks and leaves, and returning to the place of burial to pay their respects. They display their deep feelings of compassion, which they have extended to other animals, and humans in anguish. Like our children, elephants need the love and teachings of their elders and it is important for the disobedient calves to be disciplined by these more experienced family members. Elephant calves display the same characteristics as human children and throw tantrums, showing jealous traits towards their siblings, jumping with joy and retreating in sadness. ‘Memory like an elephant’ is a saying tossed at someone with a sharp memory, and we say this for a reason. An elephant’s memory is something to be proud of and they do not forget.

The Matriarch will be replaced by one of her daughters (normally the eldest) when she dies. The intense loyalties, deep love, and caring are fundamental to the survival of the herd and these bonds are forged and built over many decades. Young bulls will leave the herd between the ages of 12 and 15 years. They will either join up with a bachelor herd or lead a solitary existence.

Elephant family units will split, normally due to a shortage of food in the area. These family units remain united, meeting up at watering holes and favourite feeding spots. Meeting up with members from the other unit is also cause for celebration. They begin to call out to each other from a quarter of a mile away. Getting closer, they pick up the pace with temporal glands streaming. Once they have spotted each other, they start to run: a large mass of bubbling exuberance and noisy splendor. Making contact through a swirl of dust, these mighty creatures embrace: ears flapping, tusks clicking, leaning into and rubbing each other: all the while urinating and defecating. Spinning in circles, they encompass the world with their joy and a cacophony of trumpeting screams and rumbles shred the air. Happiness and joyful is their reunion.

The numbing distress in seeing these tortured and mutilated bodies left to rot is a sad reminder that these ‘ivory thieves’ are playing with a different set of rules. We are sitting on the edge of the future and we do not want our memories of these iconic animals to belong to another lifetime.

Again, I ask, choking on the question. ‘How can you desire to own something that is so symbolic of suffering and death?’ I will keep asking this question until I get an answer. I ask each one of you consumers of ivory during these tumultuous times, ‘look deep into the eyes of your mother and your grandmothers.’ Your demand is destroying these magnificent animals. Elephants are no different from us in their understanding of life and family values.

China please put at end to this vile trade. Stop this demand for ivory and stop this callous destruction of these iconic animals.

Elephant families and human families unite and protect in the same way. MY POEM …ODE TO MY MUM AND ALL FEMALE ELEPHANTS

True Essence of humanity

March 24, 2014 Jen

How do you even begin to try and find words that describe an icon like Lawrence Anthony. To me he was ‘the true essence of humanity’. From a mystical point of view, I can only describe him as having achieved a perfect blending of a physical being with a pure non-physical soul.

From reading about his incredible journey with the wild herd of elephants (The Elephant Whisperer) on his game reserve Thula Thula in Zululand, South Africa, you get a strong sense of his integrity. He abhorred destruction and hatred. He was connected with greater things and greater understandings. Lawrence Anthony was able to see the wonder and miracle of life on this planet. He was able to see the sheer magnificence of this world that we as humans appear to be so incompetent at sharing. He knew that the earth and all her inhabitants were to be treasured.

As we look around the world today, we can’t help but observe that not only are humans destroying millions of their own kind in the name of politics, power and religion, they are also hell bent on annihilating animal life and the environment. Both violence towards people and animals for many of the two legged beings has become a socially acceptable form of human behaviour: sadly, a way of life.

Lawrence Anthony, in my mind was guided by a pureness of spirit, non-violence and compassion towards all living things. He was passionate about people, animals and the environment.

In his book Babylons Ark, the incredible rescue of the Baghdad Zoo, this amazing man wrote:

The prophets of doom are already saying it is too late, that the crude and uniformed impact of man on the planet’s life systems is just too great and that we don’t have enough time to turn it all around. I don’t happen to agree, but I do know that we are entering the endgame. Unless there is a swift and marked change in our attitudes and actions, we could well be on our way to becoming an endangered species.’

Powerful words from a special man who sadly left this earth too early.

Lawrence Anthony was an icon in the environmentalist movement. One of his legacies ‘Earth Organisation’: a non profit, non partisan organisation aimed at reversing the dwindling spiral of life on earth and creating a healthy and habitable planet on which all life has the right to thrive and prosper.

Lawrence Anthony was 61 years old when he died of a heart attack. He was taken before his planned conservation gala dinner in Durban aimed at raising international awareness of the Rhino poaching pandemic and to launch his new book, ‘The last Rhinos’.

In April, 2012, he was posthumously awarded honorary Doctor of Science degree by College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal.^[5]

On his passing, the two wild elephant herds trekked through the Zululand bush until they reached the house of this compassionate man who had saved their lives. This man, who was known as ‘The Elephant Whisperer’, a legend to more than those whose paths he had crossed, was being shown the ultimate love and respect from these sentient animals who had looked into his very being and found the pureness in this man.

The world and it’s inhabitants has lost a great spirit, and one of natures true warriors, who restored more than just a herd of elephant’s faith in mankind.

BOOKS BY LAWRENCE ANTHONY (Information below from Wikipedia)

‘Anthony is a bestselling author and his books have been translated into several languages. His brother-in-law, Graham Spence co-authored his three books.^[5]

Anthony’s first book Babylon’s Ark, published by Thomas Dunne Books, is the true story of the wartime rescue of the Baghdad Zoo. Babylon’s Ark has won literary awards including the Booklist Editors Choice in the category adult books for young adults, and the French 28th Prix Littéraire 30 Millions d’Amis literary award, popularly known as the Goncourt for animals.

Anthony’s second book, The Elephant Whisperer, published by Pan Macmillan, tells the story of his adventures and relationship with a rescued herd of African elephants.

Anthony’s third book, The Last Rhinos, published by Sidgwick & Jackson, is the true story of Anthony’s involvement to rescue the remaining Northern White Rhinos in the DR Congo.’

Awards and recognitions[edit]

The Global Nature Fund, Living Lakes Best Conservation Practice Award, for “A remarkable contribution to nature conservation and environmental protection.”

The Earth Day medal presented at the United Nations by the Earth Society for his rescue of the Baghdad Zoo.

The Earth Trustee Award.

The US Army 3rd Infantry, Regimental medal for bravery in Iraq during the Coalition invasion of Baghdad.

The Rotary International Paul Harris Fellowship for outstanding contribution to the ideals of Rotary.

The IAS Freedom Medal.

The Umhlatuzi Mayoral Award for Outstanding Community Service.

Member of the governing council of the Southern Africa Association for the Advancement of Science.^[4]

International membership, the Explorers Club of New York.

At a presentation in Washington, DC in March 2009, respected international journalist Tom Clynes named South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony amongst his six most impressive and influential people in a lifetime of reporting. Other names on the list include such luminaries as Sir Edmund Hillary

Memories and magical elephants

February 24, 2014 Jen

These immense and soulful creatures, one of ‘natures perfections’ view the world around them through knowing eyes. Their 45lb hearts pound with compassion and love for their families. Wearing wrinkled expressions: fold upon fold of intelligence suggest that there is far more to elephants than meets the human eye. Inside those huge and noble heads, a complex and intricate organ resides which makes me ask like many others before me, ‘do elephants surpass others in wit and mind?’

We all admire magical elephants for their colossal size and incredible strength. I have come to love and respect them for their intelligence, remarkable memories and the fact that despite their formidable size, they display deep feelings of love and empathy.

Here’s a thought: when thinking about the intelligence of animals, do we compare elephants to other animals or do we compare them to humans?

Their brains, like humans are convoluted, and the temporal lobe associated to memory is highly developed. Many of the traits portrayed in humans, nature has duplicated in these large and intelligent animals. In fact, these sentient creatures reveal to us all the goodness in creation intent on survival and not destruction.

Jumbo sized mirrors are used to test whether elephants self-awareness mirrors humans.

Elephants can recognize their own reflections in a mirror. Elephants are far more distantly related to humans than apes are and yet they seem to have developed similar social and and cognitive capacities as us. Elephants live in complex social societies thus making intelligence a part of the picture.

These parallels between humans and elephants suggest a convergent cognitive evolution possibly related to complex sociality and cooperation.”

Do elephants have long memories?

The matriarch, the oldest and wisest in the herd offers us a breathtaking glimpse into her wisdom and understanding which she has learnt over many years from her elders. She controls the daily activities of the herd and her remarkable memory comes to the fore during times of crisis. She will dig deep, remembering what she has learnt many years before and lead her herd over a great distance to find food and water in severe droughts.

This video clip shows the reunion between Jenny and Shirley after being separated 25 years earlier. Although they are not related, their paths had crossed and watching the joy and love at their reunion, I hate to think how traumatized the separation must have been for both of them. Do they have the ability to recognise each other? Of course they do, no matter how many years have passed. They remember.

The harmony of the herd depends of her skills which include complex communication, remembering different individuals smells and voices. They display deep feelings of compassion and an advanced sense of altruism towards their own and other species, including us humans showing signs of distress. Do elephants understand the concept of humans pointing at something?

These sentient creatures ooze with personality and intelligence: a large mass of bubbling exuberance, lifting their trunks to sniff the air, because they can. Like humans, they grieve deeply for loved ones, suffering deep depressions and shedding tears. They use sticks as a means to scratch those itchy places they cannot reach and according to Dame Daphne Sheldrick, they have a wicked sense of humour, and she says once you get to know them well, you can see that they even smile when they are having fun. Elephants continue to amaze us, showing their ability to paint, even though it is said they take physical instructions from their mahouts while doing so.

I care deeply about elephants, respecting and revering the fact that not only are they the largest land mammal, they are almost emotionally human. Having learnt about their love and compassion, let us unite as one and show them that us humans are also possessed with an infinite compassion towards our earthly companions. Let us allow them to live as nature intended.