“Let a Person Walk Alone With Few Wishes, Committing No Wrong, Like an Elephant in the Forest.”
Watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 16” x 12” - ©Maree Clarkson
Africa’s wild animals are a constant source of inspiration and for me elephants symbolise Strength, Solitude, sense of loyalty to the family and Intelligence. Looking into the eye of an elephant, one sees Wisdom beyond our understanding.
I sketched this young elephant on a visit to the Elephant Sanctuary Hartebeespoort Dam where they provide a “halfway house” for young African elephants in need of a temporary home.
African elephants (Loxodonta) are the largest living terrestrial animals. The African elephant differs from the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) in that African elephants’ trunks end in two opposing lips, whereas the Asian elephant’s trunk trunk ends in a single lip. Adult African elephants weigh between 4,000-7,500kg and Asian elephants are less at 3000-6,000kg. African elephants have a fuller, more rounded head. The top of the head is a single dome whereas Asian elephants have a twin-domed head with an indent in the middle. All African elephants, male and female, have tusks, whereas only some male Asian elephants have tusks. Africans generally have the bigger tusks. About half of all female Asian elephants and a small percentage of males have small tusks like teeth, known as tushes. The African forest elephant has 5 nails on front feet and 4 on the back while the African bush elephant has 4 nails on the front feet and 3 on the back. The Asian elephant has 5 nails on the front feet, 4 on the back and on the very rare occasion, 5.
Although both species of elephant eat a wide variety of plant matter, in general term the Asian elephant’s diet is made up of a greater proportion of grass while the African elephants diet is made up of a greater proportion of leaves.
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