Elephant -

Ranger Gavin told us to expect a young (~22 years) male to approach the truck. Sure enough, here he comes. -

Even the females and young elephants are big. MUCH bigger than our truck. - Sun 09 Aug 2009 07:18:46 AM

Elephants eat a LOT. Up to 200kg (480 lbs) of vegetation per day. They eat just about the whole tree, including the branches. -

Elephant walking near the front of our truck - Tracker Isaac on the front bumper, Ranger Gavin at the wheel. We just sat and watched in awe. - Sun 09 Aug 2009 07:28:35 AM

Thornybush Game Reserve is named for the VERY thorny and prickly trees, bushes, and scrubs. Elephants eat the thorny stuff, thorns and all. - Sun 09 Aug 2009 07:28:44 AM

The young male Gavin said would want to come very close. A couple minutes later, this guy was close enough to touch (but we didn't!). I don't have pix of when he came up super close, I wasn't even breathing, much less taking pictures! - Sun 09 Aug 2009 07:29:55 AM

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Eating a tree. Elephants' digestive systems aren't terribly efficient, so lots of sticks and things pass right through. Gavin showed us some elephant poo. It was huge. He said the primary reason elephants have to eat so much is because their digestive -

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Joel videos the young male walking away. Gavin said the BIG male of the herd wasn't around that day, but at ~44 years was much much bigger than the ~22 year old "teenager". I can't imagine how big the BIG guy must be. The 22 year old was HUGE -