Aug 1210 min read

It Makes Me Happy: World Elephant Day

Happy World Elephant Day!

Each year on August 12th, the world pauses to celebrate the majesty of elephants. If we were living in my fantasy timeline, we would be doing this because elephants were revered, respected, and protected everywhere, all the time.

Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. As it stands, instead of thriving, all species of elephants (that includes African savanna elephants, African forest elephants, and Asian elephants) are in danger of becoming extinct. Why? Myriad reasons that are not limited to that humans are expanding into wild areas and destroying their habitats, abusing elephants for profit and entertainment, hunting them for sport, and blatantly murdering them to collect the ivory from their tusks and sell it around the world. The Sheldrick Trust gives a detailed explanation of the dangers elephants face here.

If the situation is so dire, why am I filing this under my It Makes Me Happy umbrella? The answer is simple but two-fold: elephants bring me joy and days like today, where people join together across the globe to raise awareness, get inspired, and take action make me hopeful. Together, we can make the world a safer place for elephants and that, in turn, will benefit us all. There is nothing like seeing elephants in their native habitat, living their lives with grace and intelligence. I can only continue to hope that we see their numbers rise.

Below you’ll find my extensive entry discussing elephant and elephant conservation facts, ways to help, and some progress that makes me happy. If (and I get it!) you want to skip all that text, scroll down or click here to go to the section marked Additional Resources and Ways to Help. There, you will find links to all the methods of aid I suggest in the main text, many of my favorite sanctuaries and conservation organizations, further reading ideas (non-fiction and fiction!), and more.

A Few of My Favorite Elephant (and Elephant Conservation) Facts

Elephants are a keystone species. That means their existence is important to maintaining a balanced, healthy habitat. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) elephants, “create, modify, or maintain the landscape around them. They influence the prevalence and activities of other organisms and help define the overall biodiversity of their habitat.” They do this by altering the landscape as they walk long distances and move and eat various plants and by spreading seeds through their dung.
Elephants can be hairy. Despite loving elephants for all of my life, just how hairy an elephant can be (especially a baby!) really surprised me. See for yourself in this absolutely adorable video of Naisimari, a little elephant who was rescued by Reteti Elephant Sanctuary…which also happens to be the first community-owned elephant sanctuary in Africa and the home of some of Africa’s first woman elephant keepers!
Elephant species have different characteristics. When I was first learning about elephants I remembered the difference between African and Asian elephants like this: African elephants have huge ears that somewhat resemble the shape of Africa and Asian elephants are more forehead and less ear. There are many other differences, though, too! For example, both African and Asian elephants have points at the tip of their trunks they function like fingers, they help grab and pick things. However, African elephants have two and Asian elephants only have one. Learn more about their differences at the Global Sanctuary for Elephants.
Elephants are afraid of bees. Yes, it’s true. This discovery had led to projects like Elephants and Bees which seeks to use beehives as fences between the wilderness and populated areas/crops. The objective is to prevent crop damage as well as human-elephant violent conflict by causing the elephants to want to remain in the wild and away from the bees they severely dislike.
Elephants are matriarchal. That’s right. The matriarch is often one of the more mature female elephants in the herd. She will dictate things like where they move, how they get there, and when they move on. She will also be the one who calls the shots regarding threats to the herd and how to handle them. It's a huge responsibility. You can read more about matriarchs from the Tsavo Trust here.
Elephants 'speak' in ways we cannot hear. In addition to the famous elephant sounds of trumpeting and rumbling (which you can learn about through the fabulous site Hello in Elephant) research indicates that elephants also use seismic waves as a method to communicate. Seismic waves are "vibrations occurring underground and along the earth’s surface—which, depending on the soil type, can travel farther than the counterpart waves we hear moving through the air." It must help them keep their secrets.
Elephants remember who helped them and will return to see their human families even after they have returned to the wild. The Sheldrick Trust often talks about how their rewilded orphans like to return, especially when they have a new baby to show the keepers! Read about one such instance here.
Elephants might have 'names' for each other. A recent study found that it is possible that elephants might use specific sounds to speak to each other, and that what we might consider a rumbling might be what they consider their 'name.' Read more here.

Christine, a white woman with long brown hair, wearing a grey shirt and blue sunglasses, reaches through green bars to pet a brown elephant named Ambo on the trunk while he eats a stick

Ways to Help

Every day is a good day to spread the word about the importance of elephants and the dangers they face, but World Elephant Day is especially wonderful because many elephant sanctuaries, conservation projects, and advocacy groups will amplify your actions in one way or another. I’m always on the lookout for fun ways to help elephants and here are some of my favorites:

Get out there and run (or walk!)
- Join the Saving the Elephants Run/Walk! Each November, elephant lovers participate in a 5k or 10k around New York’s Central Park to benefit the Zambezi Elephant Fund. You don’t have to be able to make it to New York to participate though, there’s a virtual option that allows you to participate anywhere in the world!
No money? No problem.
- You don’t have to be rich to help elephants. At the bottom of this post I’ve included a list of some of my favorite elephant-helping organizations. They all have internet presences. Most of them are extremely active in promoting elephant education through social media posts or on their websites. Visit them, read them, and share them. Raising awareness and creating empathy is always a good idea. Every time you help another person realize why we should be protecting elephants, you are helping the elephants, too, because they have gained another advocate.
- Speak out, sign petitions, and contact officials when you learn about elephant mistreatment. For example, many tourist locations (especially in Asia) will offer elephant rides. Do not participate in it. There is no such thing as an elephant who is happy to give you a life. If an elephant allows this, you can be certain that they are being routinely horrifically abuse. Also, pay attention to what your local zoos are doing. Elephants are not meant for captivity. Be careful about the places you choose to visit and don’t be afraid to express concern and call for captive elephants to be moved to sanctuaries. Your voice matters.
Give a little money (through special—and fun!—donation methods)
- Adopt an orphan. This is probably the most common method of supporting elephant conservation outside of donating financially with no expectation of receiving something in return. In fall of 2016 I adopted my beloved Ambo, who was rescued by the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. Each month I receive updates on him and recently I learned that he has transitioned from living at the Trust to living in the wild! My little boy is growing up! It is truly special to feel like you are helping a specific elephant (even if, certainly, any money you give is used to benefit them all) and to follow their journey. Many sanctuaries have adoption options including the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, Global Sanctuary for Elephants, The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, Reteti Elephant Sanctuary, and Elephant Haven European Elephant Sanctuary.
- Let them eat cake. Literally. Okay, so this is one of my favorite ways to help, and I only discovered it last year. The Samui Elephant Haven will create cakes (made from elephant-friendly foods) as treats for their elephants if you donate specifically for that purpose. You can do so here. Their creations are wonderful and they will send you digital pictures and videos of the elephants receiving the present. I did this as a gift for my parents for their anniversary (you can see a picture of the aftermath in this post! Look at those elephants filling their bellies!) and it was wonderful. They even have an Instagram account dedicated solely to showing the elephants receiving their cakes. If it doesn’t make you smile, I don’t know what will.
- Supply them with milk or fulfill other needs. For example, for World Elephant Day, Reteti Elephant Sanctuary has Milk Matching campaign going on here. For every bottle you pay to donate, it gets matched, up to several thousand bottles! Meanwhile, the Global Sanctuary for Elephants has multiple ways you can assist them, including by covering a treatment for one of its resident’s feet and providing a basket that will help the elephants fend off the bugs that bother them. At the Sheldrick Trust you can also contribute to helping the keepers by providing them with items like new shoes and binoculars. Always check for wish lists on sanctuary sites! They often offer unique ways to contribute.
- Shop for friends, family, and yourself. More and more companies are aligning with the mission of contributing to elephant conservation. Supporting them not only helps elephants, but it encourages the companies to continue their efforts, and gives you something wonderful in return, like a box of elephant chocolates from L.A. Burdick, a sweet plushie from The Elephant Project, elephant-themed pet accessories from Up Country, or super adorable clothing and more from Ivory Ella. Also, some elephant conservation organizations (like the Zambezi Elephant Fund) will have their own merchandise lines! When you visit the websites I linked at the bottom of this entry, make sure to keep an eye out for their online shops.

Five large Asian elephants gather around a circular platter eating the fruits and vegetables on it. They appear to be smiling.

Progress that Makes Me Happy

We are seeing increasingly conservation-conscious media.
- In 2019, Disney released a live-action version of the classic animated film Dumbo. This Tim Burton film addressed many of the problematic elements from the original, but the one that pertains to us the most is it’s ending. This is absolutely a spoiler, but it’s one that gets me so excited I have to share it: at the end of the film Dumbo and his mother no longer remain with the circus. Instead, they leave their performance prison for a happier ending among their own kind. It is a brilliant change.
- In early 2024, Water for Elephants took to the Broadway stage. This musical, based on the novel and book of the same name, is set in a circus and features a (beautiful puppet) elephant named Rosie. As an elephant lover, I was understandably unsure of how I would feel about a show with a circus elephant at its heart. It turned out I need not be worried. While I always prefer my elephants to be free from performing, the main protagonists in Water for Elephants are sympathetic and the antagonist is the one who hurts her. But that’s not why I’m happy about this production’s handling of elephants. The team behind the production got ahead of the ball and proactively addressed the need for conservation. At the first preview, member of the audience were given a gift: a bracelet from the company Fahlo. Fahlo is a conservation-minded company that features bracelets which help you track elephants and contribute to the wonderful organization Save the Elephants in the process. Their efforts don’t end there. If you attend the show or visit the Water for Elephants merchandise shop, you can purchase a shirt created in collaboration with Ivory Ella that contributes to Save the Elephants and a plush elephant being sold to benefit the Global Sanctuary for Elephants.
- There have been a number of fiction books released for young people in recent years that do a wonderful job of engaging readers in the world of elephants and those who care for them. Two of my favorites are The One and Only Ruby by Katherine Applegate (which is told from the perspective of Ruby the elephant, who has spent the majority of her life in captivity) and The Elephant Girl by James Patterson and Ellen Banda-Aaku with Sophia Krevoy (which is loosely inspired by the true rescue story of an elephant I actually had the honor to meet at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust).
While far from achieving perfection, the fight against the ivory trade continues to progress.

Working to save the elephant population of the planet is a huge job, but there are so many ways you can participate in it…and the more people who do, the better off we will be. Elephants make me happy, and I hope they make you happy, too. Whether you found this on World Elephant Day or otherwise, I am glad you have read this far. May you be moved to help our planet by helping these magical creatures go from hunted to honored. In the end, we all benefit.