ANIMALS

After Being Apart for 12 Years, an Elephant Touches Trunks with Her Daughter and Granddaughters

Elephants in the wild often live in herds led by a matriarch, and once the male elephants reach sexual maturity, they will leave the group to find a mate, while the females remain with their mother for life. As a result, some animal sanctuaries make an effort to preserve elephant families in order to promote the well-being of these animals.

Recently, Pori, a 39-year-old elephant, had a heartwarming reunion with her 19-year-old daughter Tanan, as well as her granddaughters, Tamika and Elani.

Born in Zimbabwe in 1981, Pori is an African elephant who was relocated to the Magdeburg Zoo in Germany in 1983 and lived there until 1997. She was then transferred to Tierpark in Berlin for breeding purposes, where she gave birth to her first calf, Tana, in 2001.

Following 12 years of separation, Pori was joyfully reunited with her beloved family at Halle zoo, as part of an effort to replicate a natural herd environment for captive animals. The elephant population in zoos is closely monitored through the use of the EEP conservation breeding program.

To allow the elephants to have a private space to reconnect with each other, the staff at the center closed the elephant house. Witnessing the elephants extend their trunks to embrace their beloved family members was a heartwarming sight that melted everyone’s heart.

The animals were given an opportunity to engage with each other in an outdoor setting, while visitors observed them from a secure distance.

The Zoo director, Dr. Dennis Muller, shared: “Pori’s arrival in Halle is an important step in modern elephant husbandry. In the future, all elephant herds in European zoos should be cared for in such natural family structures. Today we have come a great deal closer to this goal.”

What are your thoughts upon viewing these touching images? Do you believe that animals are capable of experiencing emotions similar to those of humans? Please share this touching account with your loved ones and invite them to share their opinions in the comments section below!

Image sources: zoohalle

ANIMALS

Amazing Video of Unseen Ocean Creatures in the Ningaloo Canyons

The Schmidt Ocean Institute recently explored the Ningaloo Canyons on the western coast of Australia using a robotic underwater vehicle called the ROV Sebastian. Check out the amazing video of what they discovered in the deep parts of the Indian Ocean.

More info: Youtube

ANIMALS

These Pics Are Art and the Artists Are Insects

Flying insects move so quickly that they are hard to follow, but new technology and some smart ideas have helped Spanish photographer Xavi Bou do just that. After spending 10 years focusing on birds in flight for his Ornithographies project, he turned his attention to insects.

For Entomographies, he uses high-speed video footage taken by Adrian Smith, an insect expert at North Carolina State University, to study and record how insects move. Bou then picks multiple frames and combines them into single images that show the fast movements of one or more insects through space and time.

With Smith’s help, Bou has captured the aerial tricks of wasps, the jumps of leafhoppers, and the fluttering of butterflies in amazing detail. He hopes that by doing this, he can make people more aware of the decline in important insect populations around the world.

1. Zebra longwing

This butterfly, which is common in many areas of the Americas, really fits its name. It can fly very high with just a few flaps of its large wings.