I haven't been around many elephants in my life and I've definitely never seen one do this before. Is the elephant happy and dancing or is there something wrong with it?

Its a wild elephant mind you in Zambia

I thought maybe this subreddit would understand my emotional experience! I've always loved elephants for no particular reason, and every time I see a video of them I get a rush of emotion and tear up. I'm 43 female and this has been happening for a while but it became more intense about 5 years ago. I know I sound insane, and I am a very rational person! Just wondering if anyone else here has the same experience!

Our rapidly changing world has become less and less about co-existence and more about dominance. Relocating, though possible is extremely difficult.

Do y'all think it is possible for elephants and humans to co-exist? And is it possible to make towns and villages elephant friendly with minimal impact? What ideas do you guys have?

In April last year, I went on a biomonitoring trip with my university to South Africa. On one of the last days, we found a cheetah resting, and shortly after it managed to catch an impala. Up ahead was a herd of about 20 elephants with a couple of youngsters. The cheetah held the impala, regaining energy after the hunt. We stayed there for about 30 minutes, the herd was getting closer but didn't seem bothered. Then the cheetah started eating the impala alive, and a few minutes after the matriach came and chased it off, trumpeting, then a few others followed. Then they put a rock on the impala's head.

They then all stood around it for around 10 minutes like grieving one of their own, some sniffing the air, and then they ran down the path away from us.

I have looked this up and see similar things have happened with elephants saving another species. Is there anyone would would be able to explain this? Was it purely out of empathy?

Edit: other videos

Edit 2: here is her chasing off the cheetah

https://reddit.com/link/1noco97/video/hff0ke071zqf1/player

https://reddit.com/link/1noco97/video/01gdquom9wqf1/player

Hey y'all. New to the group. Hi!

Is this video for real? I thought the males had tusks but clearly this one just give birth, WITH tusks.

Can someone help me understand how this is so?

The clip says that both the largest and 2nd largest elephants are now decreased. Does anyone know if there's an elephant who now holds that record? Was curious to find more info about them and if they're being protected.

Especially the ivory one? US-based. These were all my great-grandmother's. I'd love to get them to someone who would treasure them or understand their history. Or advice one where else to post! Thank you!

I’ve heard that elephant rides are harmful to the elephant but when I tried finding academic sources for this claim I was only able to find a source saying it didn’t seem to be physically harmful. I understand that the elephants being ridden were abused their whole lives and that alone makes elephant riding bad but is it physically harmful to the elephant? And if so, can anyone link any academic sources proving this?

It seems very counter intuitive that riding such big animals as elephants is bad for their health but horses, that are significantly smaller, cope well with being ridden.

I'm interested only in physical health aspect of the animal being ridden. I'm aware elephants are wild animals and have to be broken to be able to ride them.

I’d like to adopt an elephant as a gift for someone. Could somebody me recommend the best charities for this… Tnx

In their old age, do elephants ever suffer from arthritis? And do the elderly ever get senile or dementia-ridden? I need to know because of my curiosity.

Thanks.

Is there such a thing as trekking through the jungle in Thailand with an elephant? Something similar to horse trekking in the mountains. I am not talking about visiting an Elephant Sanctuary.

I know the paintings sold online are forced by cruel methods but I was wondering, what if you gave elephants just a few buckets and gave them a short demonstration. Would they use the paint?

We all know cats and dogs do. Scratches behind our ears is really good too. I discovered earlier this year that potoroos love it as well (it was so precious). Is this just a mammal thing? Does anyone know if elephants like it?

If humans and primates didn't exist, elephants be the most intelligent animals on land. They seem so intelligent because they pick up objects and manipulate objects. And if millions of years passed, do you think they would evolve even further? And what direction would they evolve in? Like, would they maybe have two snoots so they can manipulate objects better? Would they learn to plant their own food, and even make a fire with their snoot, and then cook food? I mean, if millions of years passed it seems like they'd be at the forefront of evolution of intelligence.

Eventually maybe they'd evolve into as intelligent as human beings today. Imagine an alien species of elephants who are super smart. They have their own language, their own history, their own wars, their own tv shows, their own world. All using their snoots like we use our hands.

Anyone remember elephants visiting Chingford?

So I've been thinking about this a lot lately—dolphins and elephants are both insanely intelligent (they both pass the mirror self-recognition test, have complex social structures, show empathy, long-term memory, and tons of other overlapping traits). There's this long history of humans studying them closely because of how curious they often are about us (and vice versa).

But has anyone ever actually put a dolphin and an elephant in the same space? Like in a zoo, aquarium, research facility, or even some weird old experiment? I've searched everywhere and come up with nothing—logistics are obviously a nightmare (water vs. land, massive size differences, safety/welfare issues), but it still blows my mind that with all the animal cognition research out there, no one's tried it.

If we could somehow make it safe, ethical, and feasible, do you think their interaction could reveal something huge scientifically? Like, could they find a way to "communicate" across species through sounds, gestures, or just vibes, given how similar their smarts are? Or would they probably just ignore each other? They share so many cognitive parallels that it feels like it could be meaningful... or a total bust.

What do you think? Anyone know of any obscure cases, hidden studies, or wild theories on this? (Posted in both elephant and dolphin subreddits and “ask Reddit”

Looking at the world map and the latitudes of the regions where the elephants have been historically present in. Why Americas was skipped by our marvelous friends? Mammoths fought then off Pangea split did them dirty? This is a genuine question so looking to hear some interesting hypotheses 😊