Last weekend I took part in a course about elephant behaviour, just out of interest. It turned out to be a professional tour guide course, but never mind. I never thought one could talk 3 days solid about elephants, but it was possible and even very interesting. My intention was to learn what to do when near elephants and how to predict when one has to leave them alone to avoid being charged. I got an idea of that, although there is of course no clear answer for all situations. But I also got so much relevant background information starting with anatomy to guess when a broken tusk would be painful (and therefore the elephant aggressive) to the family structure of elephant groups. There were surprising facts such as that they have only one molar tooth at a time in each quarter of the jaw and that they have 6 sets of that. Or that giraffes communicate by infrasound (a bit off topic, but still interesting). Or that the weight of an elephant results in only 600g per square centimetre footprint area. All in all, it was a strenious, but enjoyable weekend and I hope I passed my test today so that I can join the practical part of the course next year. And avoid elephants like the one on the picture which I took on a guided tour last year in Caprivi.
