A Repost from August 2023: Dusty Elephants
A Little Dirt Never Hurt Anyone - Patty from Peanuts Cartoon
I’m packing for a trip out west tomorrow to photograph grizzly bears in British Columbia. Here’s a repost from last summer about why elephants love dust baths. Stay tuned for some bear images and new stories at the end of the month!
Readers regularly remind me that information about the African animals I write about is new information to them. I appreciate this feedback since one of my goals is education, plus, readers’ comments often inspire a new story. The post, A Day at the Spa, about Big Tusker Craig’s experience at the mud hole encouraged me to explain why elephants, much like Pig Pen of Peanuts fame, enjoy a good coating of dirt.
Like elephants, Pig Pen is confident in who he is and carries himself with dignity and respect. He treats others well and hopes they will do the same for him (they often do not, but he perseveres). Pigpen considers it a point of pride that he is cloaked in the 'dust of countless ages. https://peanuts.fandom.com
Big Tusker Craig enjoys a dust bath during the last year’s drought.
An elephant’s hide looks tough, but in fact it is sensitive to the strong African sun and parasites like ticks. Coating themselves in dust or mud protects their skin from the intense sun and biting insects.
Wet mud leaves interesting patterns on the elephants’ skin
You can often tell what part of the country elephants are from based on the colour of the mud they sport. In Amboseli in southern Kenya, the elephants are a dusty silver from the volcanic soil of Mt. Kilimanjaro.
A family of elephants spray mud from a puddle on the Amboseli Plain
At the Reteti Elephant Orphanage the elephants take on the rusty red colour of the earth in the arid region of northern Kenya. The keepers shovel dirt on the orphans and provide access to a mud hole to ensure they are protected and experience the benefits of a good mud coating.
Elephant orphans at Reteti Elephant Sanctuary are treated to dust bath by their keepers.
It’s hilarious to watch the babies pile on and roll around in the dirt. They appreciate the rewards of mud long before they learn how to use their trunks to administer their own dust bath.
I’ve always been curious why elephants don’t sneeze when they suck up so much dust in their trunks. I would! Their trunks are amazing, a straw for drinking, a hose for dusting and an arm for browsing.
Mud in Your Eye - Amboseli Kenya
As a photographer, I look for photo opportunities to show how dust or mud can add drama to an image, like this one I call Mud in Your Eye, from The Wisdom of Elephants. By the way, there are only 5 copies left of my book! You can order your copy in my online store.
