A Tail You Won't Believe
Born on 17 September 1950, Lawrence Anthony was perhaps best known for his lifelong and commitment to conservation initiatives to protect endangered species from extinction (including elephants and rhinos) and he tirelessly campaigned to preserve their decreasing habitats. In 2003, during the Irag invasion, he led the rescue of creatures stuck inside Baghdad Zoo. Throughout his life, he raised awareness of the environment and the importance of protecting endangered species. It was the actions of his elephants that
The Elephant Whisperer
Lawrence, best known by his nickname, "The Elephant Whisperer", was in charge of conservation in South Africa, at the Thula Thula game reserve in Zululand. When he suddenly passed away from a heart attack on 2 March 2012, the shock waves of his death reverberated around both the human and animal world. But it was the actions of 12 elephants he had saved and protected that gave a fitting tribute to his conservation work.
In Mourning
Actions speak louder than words. For 12 hours, two herds of wild South African elephants slowly travelled across the scrubland of the Zululand bush, until they reached the house of Lawrence Anthony.
Lawrence's son Dylan said. "The first herd arrived on Sunday and the second herd, a day later. They all hung around for about two days before making their way back into the bush."
Every single elephant standing outside his house had been saved and rehabilitated by Lawrence: this collection of formally rogue, violent elephants would have been shot, if Lawrence hadn't rescued and rehabilitated them. For two hot days and long nights, they all stood in a mournful vigil around his house, before dispersing back into the bush.
Dylan added, "They had not visited the house for a year and a half and it must have taken them about 12 hours to make the journey,"
Sorrow & Grief
This event has left scientists and ecolgists baffled. How did the two separate herds of elephants know Lawrence had died? Why did they choose to travel for miles and miles to his house? Are elephants so heartbreakingly close to human sorrow and grief? Or is this just a bizarre and coincidental set of unrelated events, that we are combining to form a human narrative?
It is easy to give elephants human qualities and emotions or 'anthropomorphise' them. In the wild, when an elephant dies, Scientists have observed extraordinary displays of emotion from elephants who visit the deceased, almost as if they are paying their respects. One female elephant was observed crying from both eyes with visible tears streaming down her face. There is a growing wealth of information and data, based on decades of scientific observation and reports, that elephants shed tears and grieve like us and try to bury their dead in the wild.
Close Emotional Bond
Did Lawrence establish such a close connection with these beautiful creatures that they considered him to be one of them? The loving relationships he had built with these elephants in Thula Thula, meant that when he could heal them no more, they came to pay loving homage to their friend. This amazing action of these 12 elephants shows the close emotional bond that can exist between man and elephant. Maybe we should think about how man's actions affect the world and affect the endangered animals, plants and habitats that inhabit it too.
Born on 17 September 1950, Lawrence Anthony was perhaps best known for his lifelong and commitment to conservation initiatives to protect endangered species from extinction (including elephants and rhinos) and he tirelessly campaigned to preserve their decreasing habitats. In 2003, during the Irag invasion, he led the rescue of creatures stuck inside Baghdad Zoo. Throughout his life, he raised awareness of the environment and the importance of protecting endangered species. It was the actions of his elephants that
The Elephant Whisperer
Lawrence, best known by his nickname, "The Elephant Whisperer", was in charge of conservation in South Africa, at the Thula Thula game reserve in Zululand. When he suddenly passed away from a heart attack on 2 March 2012, the shock waves of his death reverberated around both the human and animal world. But it was the actions of 12 elephants he had saved and protected that gave a fitting tribute to his conservation work.
In Mourning
Actions speak louder than words. For 12 hours, two herds of wild South African elephants slowly travelled across the scrubland of the Zululand bush, until they reached the house of Lawrence Anthony.
Lawrence's son Dylan said. "The first herd arrived on Sunday and the second herd, a day later. They all hung around for about two days before making their way back into the bush."
Every single elephant standing outside his house had been saved and rehabilitated by Lawrence: this collection of formally rogue, violent elephants would have been shot, if Lawrence hadn't rescued and rehabilitated them. For two hot days and long nights, they all stood in a mournful vigil around his house, before dispersing back into the bush.
Dylan added, "They had not visited the house for a year and a half and it must have taken them about 12 hours to make the journey,"
Sorrow & Grief
This event has left scientists and ecolgists baffled. How did the two separate herds of elephants know Lawrence had died? Why did they choose to travel for miles and miles to his house? Are elephants so heartbreakingly close to human sorrow and grief? Or is this just a bizarre and coincidental set of unrelated events, that we are combining to form a human narrative?
It is easy to give elephants human qualities and emotions or 'anthropomorphise' them. In the wild, when an elephant dies, Scientists have observed extraordinary displays of emotion from elephants who visit the deceased, almost as if they are paying their respects. One female elephant was observed crying from both eyes with visible tears streaming down her face. There is a growing wealth of information and data, based on decades of scientific observation and reports, that elephants shed tears and grieve like us and try to bury their dead in the wild.
Close Emotional Bond
Did Lawrence establish such a close connection with these beautiful creatures that they considered him to be one of them? The loving relationships he had built with these elephants in Thula Thula, meant that when he could heal them no more, they came to pay loving homage to their friend. This amazing action of these 12 elephants shows the close emotional bond that can exist between man and elephant. Maybe we should think about how man's actions affect the world and affect the endangered animals, plants and habitats that inhabit it too.
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