“My choice is, predictably, the elephant. Sharing my life with them, there could be no other.

Every aspect and attitude of this remarkable creature is now so familiar, yet they never cease to fascinate and thrill me. They are like us but better. They feel emotions keenly and have an enormous capacity for love. They celebrate jubilantly and grieve deeply. Despite their immense size and majestic stature, elephants are vulnerable, sensitive, and caring. Bulls are robust and powerful, females wise and perceptive, each one perfectly unique and full of character.

I have had the privilege of raising elephants from infancy to adulthood, growing up with them myself and then raising my sons alongside them. Their devotion to those they call family is remarkable and the adage that “An elephant never forgets” is true. Indeed, many orphans we have rescued and reintegrated back into the wild still come back to visit us in times of happiness or need, never forgetting those who saved their lives.

Elephants are the Gardeners of Eden, with so much dependent upon their very existence, and they must surely be front and centre of my personal Big 5.”

www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org
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My Big 5

Elephant
Hippo
Leopard
Lion
Rhino