An elephant never forgets

I love elephants! It was one of the animals we saw a lot of over the past week in the Kruger Park in South Africa.

This herd was funny to watch. They were in a little clearing and the center elephant began sucking up the sandy dirt in her trunk and tossing it over her back. We were told this helps to keep bugs away.

Elephants are really amazing creatures. Did you know that elephants can live to be 60 years old? And, according to researchers, elephants can recognize and keep track of the locations of up to 30 companions at one time. Other researchers, who studied three herds of elephants during a severe 1993 drought at Tanzania's Tarangire National Park, found that they not only recognize one another but also recall routes to alternate food and water sources when their usual areas dry up.