The very last day of our pre-conference tour took us to Elephant Whispers, a sanctuary for elephants. What an amazing and unique experience! How many times in your life will you be able to interact so intimately with the largest land animals on the planet? After listening to the handler’s explanation on all things elephant and some cheesy, overused jokes, we went to touch the elephants. Full of prickly sensor hairs, they were rough to the touch. Their trunks were cool too, albeit nearly impossible to keep still when they know there’s food around (they can smell tens of thousands of times better than we can). We actually got to ride them too, a bumpy but unforgettable experience.

The elephants are still wild animals and are free to roam across the 3000-hectare property as they wish. They have only been trained through positive reinforcement (perform a task=food reward), and their intelligence has allowed them to learn over 150 commands without much difficulty.

Elephants are such magnificent animals. So much raw power, but they can still pick up a twig on the ground with tremendous dexterity and precision. They have a very gentle nature to them, but don’t mistake them for wimps; they will attack when threatened. Family is incredibly important to them too. A pack will actually take care of its sick and even mourn the death of lost loved-ones. And it’s not just a myth; elephants do have incredible memories and are notorious for holding grudges for decades. Oh yeah, did you know that elephants are right or left-handed? Who knew? — Zachary Dionisopoulos ’13