Take time to play

"Humans are poaching elephants for their ivory tusks.
The large tusks on either side of their face—used for foraging for food and water—have long been desired by people. The ivory trade is driven by consumer demand for products made from elephant tusks and supplied by a sophisticated international network of traffickers. Poachers kill this iconic species for its ivory tusks, which are then sold and made into anything from jewelry and crafts to musical instruments to religious objects. At current poaching rates, elephant populations may be extinct in the wild within our lifetimes.

Elephants have slow rates of reproduction.
They have longer pregnancies than almost any other mammal. They carry their calves for about 22 months, with cows usually bearing only one calf every three to six years. Their regeneration rate averages 5 to 6 percent annually, compared to the 8 to 9 percent poaching rates, resulting in a net loss in population numbers. Elephants are threatened with extinction as they are unable to sustain current population numbers if the high rate of poaching continues unabated." - African Wildlife Foundation

Lying on the floor on the other side of a waterhole I manage to get this shot as the Matriarch brought her heard right to me for a drink of water, followed by lively family play time in the mud
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