Elephants are seen by many as gentle giants, thanks to being herbivores and seeing them act all friendly in zoos. While mostly true, the dangers of elephants, especially wild ones, cannot be understated. Even if they are mostly docile creatures, all it takes is one bad move or bad day to cause it to go berserk and potentially threaten the lives of you and the people around you.
To start with, elephants are huge, towering over you so high that it can practically by stepping on you if it wished. Next, it has tusks that are used to gore things that it perceives as threats. While not all elephant tusks are the same length, some being longer than others, their existence presents a threat, nonetheless. Finally, we have the elephant’s trunk, strong enough to push down trees and lift up a stunning 700,000 pounds! And don’t think you’re safe just because you’re far away from it – elephants can use their trunks to heave things, and when people are in the direction of the rocks it throws, it can cause some serious injuries, or even fatalities…
So yes, count your lucky stars that these giants are gentler in nature and not looking at you as their next meal due to being herbivores. And with all that said, let’s take a look at some safety tips that you should never forget to keep safe during an unexpected encounter with one of nature’s gentle giants.
Keep an eye out on the movement of an elephant.
Elephants, like most animals, have their own tells and actions that they use to communicate to other animals, whether it’s signaling that it’s about to attack, or threatening you to scare you away from the area.
Understanding elephant gestures, postures, and stances are paramount to knowing whether it’s okay with you in the area, or if you’re about to get charged by a very angry animal. Here are elephant behavioral traits that you should keep a close eye on. Prepare to react accordingly if the elephant shows threatening behavior.
Shaking its head
An elephant that shakes its head abruptly is likely unhappy. It does so by rapidly rotating its head from side to side. You will also likely notice its ears slapping against the side of its face, making loud smacking noises. Especially noticeable with African elephants due to the size of their ears.
Spreading its ears
An elephant that faces a perceived threat with its ears fully spread does so to make itself appear larger (as if they weren’t already large enough on their own!). They usually do this when caught off-guard or excited.
Swinging its trunk to a perceived opponent
If an elephant believes that someone is challenging it, it will swing its trunk in their direction. Usually, it does so while trumpeting.
Standing tall
By this, I don’t mean that the elephant literally goes up on its hind legs to make itself even taller. Rather, the elephant simply raises its entire body posture. It raises its head and chin while looking down on its adversary. Like the way they spread their ears, elephants do this to make themselves even taller. In fact, they may use their environment to their advantage by standing on a log, or another elevated platform to further showcase the height difference.
Mock charging
By far the most dangerous action that an elephant can do, purely because of the fact that you can’t tell if an elephant is charging you for show or if they fully intend to collide. They would charge forward, ears fully spread, but stop just short of their target, swinging their trunk forward and kicking up dust. It is usually accompanied with trumpeting from their trunks.
But what else should you do when in the presence of an elephant?
Keeping an eye out on their behavior is one thing when in their presence, but what about important things you should keep in mind when around elephant territory in general?
Make sure that you don’t have fruit when in elephant territory.
If you love fruit and are thinking of bringing some on your road trip while visiting some elephants, it might be a good idea to leave it for when you return instead. Elephants absolutely love fruit, especially apples and citrus. If they notice that you have fruit, they may get excited and head your way, possibly even overturning the vehicle you are in just to reach that apple inside your bag. And you won’t be able to hide it from them either, the sense of smell of an elephant is five times more powerful than a human’s, while being two times more powerful than a dog’s. If you have fruit with you, it knows.
Stay away from their young.
Like any other animal protective of their young, female elephants are very aggressive in protecting their young against perceived threats. If going near large elephants is discouraged, going near their young is even more so. An angry elephant viciously protecting its young against what it considers as threats is not something you want to see.
Let the elephants come to you.
When in elephant territory, make sure to stay at a distance, even when elephants are in sight. You should never actually be the one to approach wild elephants, as they might be frightened and attack you as a result.
Instead, do it the other way around. Let the elephants approach you instead. Elephants can be quite curious, and if they really want to, they’ll come closer to you to satisfy that curiosity. If they have no intention of approaching you still, then leave them. If they didn’t want to approach you before, they’re not going to want to approach even more so if you try to forcefully make contact.