I can now say “jambo” or “habari” here from Nairobi, where I arrived Friday night after a pleasant flight from Europe with KLM. I used the many hours of travelling to prepare for several meetings in Nairobi during the coming week. Unfortunately, I will not be visiting our AERP colleagues and elephant friends in Amboseli [...]
True human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can come to the fore only when its recipient has no power. Mankind’s true moral test, its fundamental test, …consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals. And in this respect mankind has suffered a fundamental debacle, a debacle so fundamental that [...]
Early morning on Wednesday last week I started on a long journey – ending up in Longyearbyen at Svalbard in late afternoon. The occasion was a trip for suppliers and customers of the company BK Gisholt Finne where I am a board member. Being one of the founders of Basecamp Explorer (winner in the Maasai [...]
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Anita mentioned in a recent comment that her favourite photographs of ours are one of an elephant peering into the car and another of an elephant biting the spare tire. They are some of my favourites, too, for at the time I had the strangest feeling – that I was the one under observation not [...]
Hi all, There has been a lot of activity on this blog over the last few days and some of it has centered around elephants in zoos. People who love elephants have strong feelings on this topic, some for and some against zoos. There is a lot of rhetoric on both sides and much of [...]
Hi all, I am in a philosophical mood today. I am generally full of enthusiasm – a trait that runs in my family, but I must admit to feeling disheartened when I look at the state of the planet. I am curious about what you think about the following: Elephants are a species of extremes. [...]
Learning through watching the behavior of others, or social learning, is an important component of the acquisition of behavior in elephants. For instance, young elephants learn what to eat by reaching up and sampling what is in the mouths of their mothers. And young females learn how to successfully raise their calves by watching adult [...]
