Adine: “So, this is a tail hair.”

Male voice: “Easy”

Adine: “You can see he flaps it just like that.” (Elephant flapping his tail)

Tigere: “Keeping all the flies away from him. So, that is one of the major issues for the tail hairs, is to keep out the flies, or, you know, the bugs away from the entire body.” 

 

“So, where he cannot reach in front there, he actually uses the trunk.” 

“So, he can straighten the trunk to a point where he can, you know, chase all the flies, or maybe, you know, pick up the sand and through the sand underneath.”

“But at the back here, he cannot do that. That is where he needs the tail.” 

 

 

“And also the tail, it is important when it comes to balancing, when they are running or walking or whatever.”

“It also maintains elephant balancing so that they have enough balance to run or, you know, turning or twisting. So, it is quite important.”

 

 

“So the hairs are very long, which is… looks quite beautiful. Unlike other animals, the hairs are on more likely, you know, southern side and northern side of the tail.“

“But the other part is quite plain, as you can see. Um, it is not other… like other animals where the whole tail is covered. This is quite beautiful, um, if you take a look at it.”

Adine: “It actually has nearly like a flat side (an elephant’s tail)… good.  So, this… this part… (elephant swishes his tail as Adine touches the hairs on it) oh…he does not … um…he is very sensitive.” 

Tigere: “Steady” 

 

Adine: “He thinks I am also a fly.”

Tigere: (patting the elephants side)  “That is right. Good Boy.”

Adine: “But you can see the hair… Maybe I am irritating him like a fly now because I am all over his… his tail. So you can see that.”

Tigere: “Steady, boy”

Adine: “And then he has got the flat side. So that is how… it is very interesting how it is distributed. One side without any hair.” 

 

(whispers to cameraman, ‘go up… up,up,up’ as camera pans up the elephant’s skin) 

“You can actually see some hair again. He has got hairy legs. And he is clearly not shaving.” (both laugh)

Tigere: “Hey, Jabu!” (laughs)

 

 

Source (1)

 

(Camera pans to other elephants standing, and browsing, nearby)

 

(‘Hello, Limpolo! Bubi is standing on the left. Khanyisa is busy climbing over an obstacle. She pauses halfway over the tree branch. You can see her blonde tail hair. Because Khanyisa is an albino, she has no pigment in her skin, eyes or hair. That is why her hair is blondish in colour.’)

 

 

 

Adine: (unintelligible) “Oh that is Bubi… really close to Khanyisa.” (If you look closely, you can see the hair covering Khanyisa’s body. Look at that hairy trunk! 

(Close-up of Khanyisa, the elephant’s, skin) (‘You can see Khanyisa has hair all over her body. She has just as much hair as other elephants, but her blonde hair is more visible in the sun. Hello, Bubi!’)

 

 

 

 

Adine: “But just on a different note. It is actually interesting to look at this tree.”

“So this tree… you can see was pushed down, okay. But it is level over here and it goes up and it is actually growing at all different parts. So, actually you can see how it is growing out… all of that.” 

“Although this tree has been pushed over and nearly destroyed by the elephants, it is growing back and actually in a bigger, better way, if that makes sense. Nice, fresh, um, leaves.”

(‘Here is Kumbura.’)

Adine: “You can look at all the places…

Tigere: “Easy, Kumbura” (to elephant, Kumbura) “Easy, easy, easy.”

Adine: It is alright girl… (Adine strokes elephant to calm her)

 

 

 

PLEASE DONATE – ‘Help the HERD’  HERD elephant orphanage (3)  

 

 

Images and transcribed from: cc video by HERD ‘Elephants Are Really Hairy! | An Elephant Lesson with Tigere and Adine’ (1)

 

Sources:

(1) Creative Commons Video by HERD ‘Elephants Are Really Hairy! | An Elephant Lesson with Tigere and Adine’ https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=LlRw-HsuT44

(2) https://herd.org.za

(3) https://herd.org.za/help-the-herd/

 

 

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