Elephants, Up Close and Personal

We’ve touched the elephant’s trunk, its side, its ears, its legs, and its tail, and like the blind man, we still can’t actually tell you what an elephant is like — but we can try!

One of the highlights of our trip to Thailand was a day trip out from Chiang Mai to a very small elephant reserve run by a family of the Karen tribe (traditionally associated with elephants). The family only cares for 4 elephants: 1 male who roams freely through the forest and only comes in once a week or so (we didn’t see him), 1 full grown female whose name sounded like “Aria”, and two of her offspring — a five year old daughter “Bunyan” and an 11-month old son, “Punjab”. None of the elephants are forcibly kept — the female and her offspring simply stay near the family plot because they know they will get food.

Aria, Punjab, and Bunyan.

We were a group of six, visiting the reserve together, so it was quite intimate — and we really did get to touch the elephants all over. They love bananas and we fed them dozens, either by letting them grab it with their trunk, or by saying “bon” and placing it directly in their mouth! (see video here.)

The elephants knew exactly where to find those lovely bananas!

We also walked through the forest with the elephants, watching them eat the bamboo and sugar cane along the path. That gave us the chance for the intimacy of seeing just how big elephant poo is — and how relatively unsmelly it is if the animals are eating a healthy diet. (Each poo is a sphere slightly larger than a softball, made up of slightly damp undigested vegetation.)

We went down to the river with the elephants twice — once just so that they could drink, and the second time so that we could get in the water with them and help bathe them. It was incredible to see how much they enjoyed the water, and enjoyed playing with each other.

The mother elephant has been trained to splash people by sucking up a lot of water into her trunk, partially closing it with the finger-like protuberance at the end of her trunk, and then letting someone aim her trunk so she can squirt the water out and soak people. Everyone seems to enjoy it, but it was hard to get a video of! (Another video here)

We also helped make the natural elephant medicine the family uses to help keep them healthy: mashed bananas, salt, and various natural herbs. We put the goo into banana skins, said “bon” and fed each of the elephants another six “bananas”.

We learned quite a bit about elephants just by being with them. For example, I (Marsha) was surprised by the long wiry hair on their bodies. (I hadn’t connected the dots that elephants are mammals and so they have hair).

As mammals, the mothers also suckle their young. The mother elephant definitely had two breasts – not teats or udders – that hang down from the chest, and getting obviously more full during the day as her milk gathered. Punjab, the baby, periodically butted up next to her and put his trunk to her breast for a drink, but he was obviously eating solid food as well. Apparently, baby elephants continue to nurse for up to three years.

Mike discovered first hand how heavy a baby elephant is when Punjab inadvertently trod on his toe. No damage done, although since an elephant weights over 220 lbs when born and gains 2-3 lbs each day in the first year, we guess Punjab weighs close to a ton!   (A full-grown bull can weigh 4 tons, while a full-grown cow can weigh about 2.5 tons.)  This little guy was quite fun to watch — particularly when he started asking our guide’s little brother (age 17) to play a game of “chase”:

But the images that will stay in our mind’s eye the longest are of all the amazing things the elephants can do with their trunks. According to wikipedia, an elephant’s trunk has over 40,000 muscles — compared to less than 1,000 in the human body!  No wonder this upper lip/nose is so flexible and so strong.  At the end of our stay, as if to point this out, the guide allowed each of us to stand in front of the mother and be picked up by her trunk.  Now there is an experience never to be forgotten!

Click here for video

It was an incredible day.