The Knysna Elephant Park was born of the struggle of the elephants in the Knysna Forest and serves to tell the story of the elephants across the continent.
It was previously believed that there was only one elephant remaining in the Knysna Forest but more recent DNA research suggests that there could be as many as six elephants roaming free. The elephants of the Knysna Forest are in fact the only elephants in South Africa that are not fenced in and they occupy an area of land 80 000 hectares in size.
Some have witnessed the eerie sight of our elephant herd standing absolutely still, one foot slightly raised, toes just touching the ground and the trunk in a strangely outstretched position just off the ground – as if listening for something. Researcher, Joyce Poole, states the following: “One answer is that elephants have a very complex social system - one of the few fluid fission-fusion societies - and, therefore, they have needed to develop a complex suite of vocalizations to interact in an appropriate way with the many different individuals they meet on a daily basis and to mediate the many complex relationships that they maintain.”
She continues: “Another answer is that they are long-lived animals and much of their social and ecological knowledge is acquired through learning over many years and, as a result, they have a need to communicate rather complex thoughts!”
She concludes: “… a third answer is that elephants are large-brained; they are capable of relatively complex thought processes and have good memory storage and therefore they have the intellectual capacity for using complex acoustic communication.”
Little wonder then that our little herd would want to communicate with their mysterious sisters (and brother?) in the forest.
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