African Elephants Embrace - Wildlife Photographic Poster
Embracing Elephants, Amboseli National Park, Kajiado County, Kenya.
 
African Elephants are often referred to as "gentle giants" but in fact these animals can be extremely dangerous and especially so in cases when sick, wounded, or defending their young.
 
Elephants are very family oriented and herds are made up of adult female groups and their offspring. Older, dominant females or matriarchs lead elephant families and herds consist of mostly related females and their calves, including young male offspring and occasionally non-related individuals.  Herds range from 20 to 100 individuals and female family members stay together for life.
 
Humans are the major threat to the survival of this species; lions and hyenas will prey on the sick and young but few predators that will attack a healthy adult African elephant. When an elephant charges a perceived threat its huge ears flap back and forth making it look even more large and fearsome, this flapping cools the animal as its stress level rises. African Elephants make a growling noise to communicate; low frequency noises that can travel up to 7 kilometres and produce a loud ear-splitting sound to signal danger.