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Photograph by Hallie Cohen |
The Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation rescues
elephants that have resorted to begging (even in the streets of a metropolis
like Bangkok), from
over use
in trekking and from landmines. Even in a
country like Thailand where goods tend to be cheap, elephants, who can eat 400
pounds of food a day, cost at least $12,000 a year to maintain. In a way the
foundation is returning elephants to the sacred status they’d had before they
became orphaned by modernity and it recognizes the extraordinary characteristics
of the elephant. Elephants which have approximately 40,000 muscles in their
trunk are as flexible as they are strong. They
can pick up an egg without cracking it while pulling down a tree. Within
the chain of animal being, they are approximately sixth in intelligence, coming
after dolphins, bonobos and chimps to name a few of their compatriots in the
animal kingdom. The foundation, which routinely tests elephants, has determined that they probably see dichromatically and experience most
of the world with a lateral vision that leaves a blind spot at the center.
Mahouts care for the elephants and there are certain words that are used to
direct them. “Bai” means to go forward,
“ben,” turn and “how,” stop. Elephants are regal animals and there is
something wonderfully anachronistic and romantic about riding one (you feel like a maharajah). To control such a beast creates the illusion of
enormous power though if one of these peaceful animals turned on you, it would
be all over.
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