When two juvenile elephants were seen enjoying a play fight, they became tangled. The adorable African elephants were seen in South Africa’s Addo Elephant National Park with their trunks intertwined and softly pressing up against one other.
The children are learning how to handle and manage their trunks, as captured by professional photographer Anne Laing, 59.
“There are plenty of other animals in Addo, but I go there mostly to shoot elephants,’ said Ms. Laing, who hails from Pretoria, South Africa. From before 7 a.m. until 6 p.m., I always spend the entire day at the park.”
“The easiest method to discover elephants in Addo, where the forest is largely dense, is to drive slowly and listen for them cracking branches.”
“Twisting trunks is something young elephants do to while play-fighting but it also teaches them how to fully control their trunks”
“As this is a kind of welcome, they are also imitating adult behavior.”
“They don’t have control of their trunks until they’re three months old, and they simply flop around, but as they get older, they have to be able to utilize them like a human arm, hand, and straw – for drinking water.”
Ms. Laing, a photographer for over 35 years, also captured the elephants drinking and splashing each other with water.
‘Water is essential for elephants since they must drink every day, with adults taking up to 150 liters each day,’ she explained.
The photographer, Anne Laing, also captured this heartwarming shot of a mother elephant caressing her baby elephant.
“In one of the photographs after drinking they use their trunks to spray their bodies with water to keep cool.”
“They often have to walk many miles to find water to drink and then walk many more miles away from the water again so need to try and keep cool.”
Ms. Laing also photographed the touching moment a mother stroked her baby using her trunk
“The mother is stroking her young elephant with her trunk, which is incredibly sensitive to touch,” Anne explained.
Anne is a professional photographer who specializes in sports photography, including the rugby, cricket, and soccer World Cups in South Africa, France, and England, as well as the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.
Anne said: “I try and do as many wildlife trips as possible and hope to get to Antarctica one day.”
“I also hope to shoot the next Rugby World Cup and the Olympics in Japan.”
