Elephants Dance Elegantly in my Memory.

Ever since my childhood, I’ve been fascinated by elephants. My father had an animal encyclopedia of all the world's creatures, where you could read about their preferred habitats, interspecies relationships, and what animals typically like on their breakfast menu. I spent many hours reading and flipping through it. There were also pictures.

Elephants, however, were one of my favorite animals. Their long trunks and tiny little eyes on their enormous heads with oversized ears. No flashy colors, and ideally, the elephant would roll in mud to form a protective layer, which insects can't penetrate and that cools while the water evaporates. And mud color isn’t exactly the most attractive at Paris fashion shows, right? No, but as a little boy in the Danish countryside, I found it exciting. We only knew pigs that rolled in mud, and that was a real piggy mess—literally.

Elephants also have large tusks, which I thought must be in the way when they ate. They were curved and prevented the mouth from being used directly. Ah, clever enough, the problem is solved with an extension of the nose into a trunk, which has so many muscles that it can twist into the most impossible positions and lift considerable weights.

Another remarkable thing about elephants is their gestation period. From the time an elephant calf is conceived until it’s born, 22 months pass—almost two years! But then it’s ready to be the most wonderful baby creature that walks the earth, cared for by its mother and aunts.

Baby elephants have inspired several characters in literature and comics, and yes, I loved Jumbo.

Elephants are said to be intelligent animals. Now, you can’t just stick electrodes on them to measure how many brainwaves are racing around in an elephant’s skull. The human brain weighs about 1.4 kg, whereas an elephant’s brain weighs 5 kg! But unfortunately for both humans and elephants, it's a whale that has the largest brain—the sperm whale, with an unparalleled 8 kg brain.

But intelligence isn’t dependent on size, so elephants can’t talk or learn as much as humans. Still, they learn a lot and remember other elephants, places with good water, and routes around Africa—if they are African elephants, that is, because there are also Asian elephants.

A legend still lives on that elephants go to certain places when they sense death approaching. They supposedly go to these areas and die alone, so as not to burden the group. It’s called an elephant graveyard. But, as I learned in the encyclopedia, that’s just a myth.

Elephants, in various forms, actually had a wider distribution across the earth in earlier times. Think of the mammoth, which had fur and could survive a Siberian winter. Unfortunately, they went extinct because the climate changed, and there was an ice age.

Elephants are enduring and strong animals. They eat a lot and are completely vegetarian. They easily consume about 300 kg of grass and leaves, so they also need plenty of water—about 200 liters a day. These are enormous amounts, which become a problem if there’s drought and crop failure.

Elephants aren’t natural prey for the wild cats of the savannah. However, these giants can be attacked if they’re weakened or if a calf is separated from the herd.

Elephants aren’t on the human menu either, thank goodness. Imagine getting a slice of elephant ham a meter long—enjoy your meal! But unfortunately, many people believe an elephant’s tusks are valuable, which is why elephants are hunted. It’s still a problem in our time.

Elephants have been kept in captivity throughout history. The Romans used them in the Colosseum for entertainment—if you can call it entertainment when animals are killed.

Elephants have been beloved animals in circus performances, though thankfully that has been banned in many countries. I never went to a circus!

Elephants are adored giants in zoos around the world.

In many Asian countries, elephants are used as transport animals—for both goods and tourists.

Elephants are generally seen as gentle creatures that do what they’re trained to do. But elephants can also go on a rampage, and then 4,000 kg of Asian or 6,000 kg of African elephant becomes very dangerous.

Today, I feel sad when I see documentaries about elephants on TV. The changing living conditions due to climate change mean fewer elephants are surviving. There are also more viral diseases that thrive and are deadly for elephants. Human poaching of elephants is also a serious problem.

I fear that these wonderful creatures may soon be on the endangered species list unless humanity’s attitude toward their tusks changes very soon. In fact, it’s entirely unnecessary to use ivory when you can get plastic, which there’s an abundance of around the world and in the oceans. You can just gather it and recycle it, and at the same time, save an elephant!

I’m saddened to witness the extinction of species and the collapse of ecosystems because animal species disappear. When will we learn?

One last thing as I near the end of my story. Out of the elephant’s rear end, about 150-200 liters of urine and around 100-150 kg of dung are produced each day. Everything has to end up somewhere, and so do the elephant’s excrements, which serve as fertilizer for other plants and as a breeding ground for many insects.