Animals
Now that’s what I call a white elephant! African giant coats himself in clay and mud to keep cool in the heat of the savannah
They say that elephants never forget, but this one looks like a morning wash may have slipped its mind.
Indeed, with its skin stained by clay and calcite sand it looks like it’s been painted with white emulsion.
The elephant was spotted surrounded by zebras at a waterhole in Namibia’s Etosha National Park.
Namibian amateur photographer Schalk van der Merwe took this stunning image of a real white elephant in Etosha National Park
The unusual-looking animal was photographed by Namibian amateur photographer Schalk van der Merwe after cooling off from the blazing heat with a mud bath.
Once the moisture dried, a residue of dry white calcite sand and white clay was left covering the beast’s leathery skin.
The word Etosha means ‘great white place’, after the vast expanse of white, salt-laced earth which forms a pan in the centre of the national park.
Elephants like this one gather wherever they can find moisture, wallowing in and splashing themselves with mud and water in an effort to cool off beneath the beating hot sun.
When the mud dries they are left caked in the white earth, earning them their reputation as the ‘great white ghosts’ of Etosha.
With its skin stained by clay and calcite sand after the moisture from a cooling mud bath has dried, it looks like the elephant’s been painted with white emulsion
-
Animals2h ago
280 million-year-old swamp monster with 'big, flat toilet seat-shaped head' discovered in Namibia
-
Animals5h ago
An 11-year-old from the UK has Ьeаteп the oddѕ by catching a 96-pound fish! The fish weighed nearly as much as him!
-
Animals17h ago
Orange head ‘warts,’ copper-colored wings, and iridescent blue-gold eyespots, all combine to create a large, highly distinctive gamebird!
-
Animals18h ago
Mama Elephant Was Sinking Into The Mud With Her Baby When They Intervened
-
Animals18h ago
Man Saves A Dying Wolf And Her Cubs, Years Later The Wolf Returns The Favor
-
Animals23h ago
Revealing the Curious and Startling Fishes Hiding in Our Oceans
-
Animals23h ago
This birds name is not the only incredible thing about it, its also an absolute delight to look at.
-
Animals1d ago
5-Day-Old Baby Elephant Falls Into Deep Mud Pond, Mama Elephant Cries For Help