Welcome back to 🌿🌙 THE EARTHY WRITER: My Rewilding Year’ 🐝✨
This is episode seven in which I’ll share with you what we can learn from elephants. I caught a bit of a cold this week, so might sound a little “nasal’. I also decided not to film myself and leave you with some beautiful elephant videos instead.
In this rewilding-episode you’ll learn:
- Some common (and other not so common facts about elephants)
- How elephants can inspire us to trust in the journey, get out of our comfort zones and live a wild, enriching life
- How elephants communicate and how we can apply that to our own life
- What you can do to keep elephants safe
- Why I will probably never shut up about the importance of African safaris
- Why, when travelling to the African continent, we are essentially ‘coming home’ and why that can have a huge impact to a person’s life, but even the health of the planet
About your host:
Hi 👋, I’m Gisele Stein. I’m a novelist and a nature-lover, writing feel-good women’s fiction with a little magic and places like characters from my cosy cabin on Wadandi Boodja in Western Australia.
All Episode Resources:
- Book Recommendation from the Episode: The Comfort Crisis
- The IFAW-Ranger-Project in Kenya, Amboseli National Park, that I visited: Team Lioness
- For more rewilding content and inspiration, you may like to follow me on Pinterest.
FYI: The YouTube videos are currently unlisted. That means only people with the link can find it. You can watch new episodes here on my website, share the link with others or open it in the YouTube app.
Episode Transcript Sumamry:
Acknowledging the Wadandi People
Happy New Moon, everyone, and welcome to another episode of The Earthy Writer. Before we begin today’s episode, let’s take a moment to acknowledge the Wadandi people, the traditional custodians of the land I’m speaking from today.
Introducing Elephants and What We Can Learn from Them
As I announced in the last full moon episode, today’s episode is dedicated to elephants and what we can learn from them. I have a bit of a cold, so this episode might be shorter than usual, but I didn’t want to cancel. I’m totally winging it today, speaking from the heart about why elephants matter and what we can learn from them.
Focusing on African Elephants
I want to clarify that I’ll be talking about African elephants, not Asian elephants. My experiences and knowledge are based on my time spent in Africa, where I encountered elephants firsthand.
Elephant Family Dynamics
Elephants live in family units led by the oldest female, while males leave the herd during their teenage years. These males often form bachelor groups or roam alone, sometimes traveling hundreds of kilometers. The females and their young stay within a smaller home range. What has been witnessed in the Kruger National Park in South Africa is that the females usually stay in a very small sort of home range, whereas the males, the bulls, will go really, really far.
Grief and Emotions in Elephants
Elephants are known to grieve the loss of their family members. I witnessed this in Tanzania’s Tarangire National Park, where a young bull interacted with the remains of a deceased elephant, displaying clear signs of mourning. Elephants have a whole range of emotions and definitely grieve members of their family that they’ve lost. I have actually witnessed this myself. It was a young bull that came towards a carcass, and I could see that this younger elephant bull was picking up the bones of the deceased animal and was really upset.
Communication Among Elephants
Elephants call each other by name and communicate through a range of methods, including touch. A newborn elephant constantly stays in contact with its mother or herd members, highlighting the importance of touch for their survival. Orphaned elephants need 24/7 care from dedicated caretakers to thrive. They believe that the whistling itself will infuse whatever it is they are working on with magic. This is why we have favorite sweaters or a certain pen that we like to write with.
Unique Communication Methods
Elephants also communicate through their feet, picking up messages through vibrations in the ground. This form of communication can happen over vast distances, creating a network of information that humans are just beginning to understand. Elephants have very cushioned feet like a pillow and very fine hairs underneath their feet and on their skin. This is how they perceive the world. If you ever go on safari and see an elephant lifting one of their front feet and that foot sort of hovers in the air, that is when an email comes through, an elephant mail, a little letter through the ground. They can pick up messages from hundreds of kilometers away.
The Memory of Elephants
An elephant’s memory is legendary. It’s not about holding grudges but remembering vital survival information passed down through generations, such as locations of water sources and safe passages. This knowledge is crucial for their survival, especially in regions fragmented by human-made barriers. Elephants never forget where water sources are, where it’s safe from humans or predators, where to go when for food resources, or where to go in times of peril and riches.
Elephants as Ecosystem Engineers
Elephants are often called the gardeners of the savannah. They shape their environment in significant ways, sometimes controversially, such as when they knock down trees. Innovative solutions, like placing beehives in trees, help protect vegetation while working with nature. Elephants impact the environment in a positive way by creating passageways and corridors.
Keystone Species
Elephants are a keystone species, meaning their presence supports entire ecosystems. Humans, in contrast, are not considered a keystone species. The survival of many other species depends on the existence of elephants. A keystone species provides an ecosystem and life to all other beings in that same environment.
Lessons from Elephants
Patience: Spending time with elephants teaches patience, as they often take their time interacting with their environment and each other. As humans, we are so impatient. I’ve found how patient elephants can be with us and other species, especially in rearing their young.
Trusting the Journey: Elephants’ ability to navigate their world without guarantees inspires us to embrace risks and trust our own journeys. Elephants live in the wild with no safety network other than their family bond. We should trust the journey and take risks, even when there are no reassurances.
The Value of Quiet: Observing elephants has taught me the importance of quiet reflection and listening, both to nature and to our inner selves. I used to be louder and more extroverted. My time on safari taught me to be quiet and listen.
Coming Home: Visiting Africa and encountering elephants feels like a homecoming, connecting us to our roots and the natural world in a profound way. When we walk in the footsteps of elephants, there is a sense of coming home.
Supporting Conservation
Supporting elephant conservation is crucial. African national parks rely on tourism for funding, making it essential to balance eco-tourism with environmental preservation. Organizations like IFAW and Save the Elephants are doing incredible work to protect these magnificent creatures. Without tourism, African national parks, where elephants and other animals live, would not exist.
Parting Words
Thank you for joining me today. I hope you found this episode insightful. If you can, please consider donating to elephant conservation or planning a safari to experience these animals firsthand. This month’s rewilding intention is focused on community and land, and I’ll share my experiences in the next full moon episode. Until then, stay connected with nature and each other.
Shop my newest book ‘The Age Of Elephants’ here:
Hi ♥️, I’m Gisele Stein, author of feel-good novels with a little magic and places like characters, which i craft from my cosy cabin on Wadandi Boodja in Western Australia. Have a look at my books here. I’m also podcasting as The Earthy Writer, to document my rewilding year: Every new moon, I set a new rewilding intention for the month, and every full moon I share my learnings with you…
