This elephant felt like being extra kind today when she decided to share her mud and sprayed a photographer who happened to be recording.
Book a Safari to Samburu National Reserve, Kenya. Where this sighting happened.
Content and Media Specialist Jane Wynyard was the lucky photographer who got the mud bath while taking a video of a well-known herd for “Save the Elephants in Kenya.” Jane shared her story and footage with LatestSightings.com.
While out shooting in Samburu National Reserve, Kenya, Jane came across this small breeding herd of elephants. They had been feeding and moving along slowly, when it started to get quite hot out, during the late morning hours. Eventually, the African sun was beating down on the herd, so, the elephants headed to a small mud puddle on the roadside; a lucky find on a hot day out!
Elephants use mud for multiple different reasons. Sometimes, they splash around in water or roll in mud to protect their skin from the sun’s heat. At other times elephants use mud as a type of insect repellent, by placing thick layers of mud on their bodies, they make it harder for things like ticks and parasites to latch onto their skin.
Another very interesting use elephants have for mud is to remove ticks and parasites that are already present on their bodies. When ticks and parasites stick to elephants, they are unable to remove them with their trunks. Instead, they will find a mud wallow, cover themselves in a thick layer, and allow it to harden and dry. This suffocates any ticks and parasites that were stuck to the elephant. The elephant will then find a sturdy log or rock and scrape off the dry mud, ridding themselves of all those unwanted ticks and parasites.
The elephants were all very calm and decided to walk only centimeters from the vehicle. Jane had her window fully rolled down to be able to capture the clearest possible images and videos. Little did she know that she would wind up covered in mud.”
One of the larger females of the herd, Hurit, picked up a good amount of mud in her trunk, and at this point, she was right next to the car. Touching distance from Jane’s face, she then casually lifted her trunk and began spraying herself with the mud. She was completely unaware that she had just given Jane a free mudding experience.
The mud went everywhere; it covered her face, arms, legs, and even parts of her vehicle. It caught her off guard, as Jane had spent many hours with these elephants in the past but never experienced something like this before.
