Can elephants think? And come to a decision? Probably yes. When an elephant was shot at with poison arrows by poachers last month, he headed for the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, the one place where he would find help. In fact, he took along two other injured elephants to this site, where he knew humans could be trusted.
The elephant had never been a resident at the trust, but he knew other elephants that had, having mated with two orphan elephants raised at the DSWT's Ithumba Reintegration Centre and fathered calves with them in 2011. The calves were named Mwende and Yetu, according to The Dodo.
"We are sure that Mwende's father knew that if they returned to the stockades they would get the help and treatment they needed because this continuously happens with the injured bulls in the north; they all come to Ithumba when in need, understanding that there they can be helped," DWST said in a statement.
But the elephant being able to lead his friends in an injured state across the vast African landscape to the one place where they would find help is no mere feat. Scientists attribute this to the spatial reasoning ability among elephants.
The elephants were sedated and treated by veterinarians at the trust, who first cleaned the wounds and then treated them with antibiotics and covered them with protective clay, reported True Activist.
The elephants are doing well, according to the latest updates, which provides a ray of hope in an otherwise dismal state of affairs.
African elephants might be extinct within the next decade due to increased poaching. In fact, over 100,000 African elephants have been killed in just the last three years to sustain the illegal ivory trade.
