Tom had to count the pans
so that they would have enough
cake for an elephant.
Ginger said that 134 should do it.
But it was not easy to bake
134 Pound Cakes.
(Plus, they had to bake
for all those monkeys!)
from The Elephant’s Birthday
written by Cynthia Rylant
illustrated by Janna Mattia
Simon & Schuster/Simon Spotlight, 2025
(Accessed on Libby 5/31/26)
I love elephants. They are big and heavy. They are substantial. They’re gray, so they go with everything. And those ears! And Dumbo. And Horton. And Elmer. And Piggy’s friend. Have you read Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Algonquin Books/Workman Publishing, 2006)?
And when I read Why Elephants Weep: the Emotional Lives of Animals by Jeffrey Moussaief Masson (Delta, 1996), I understood on a gut level that animals (and I am sure plants, too) are sentient beings.
And, it’s not the elephants’ fault that Thomas Nast used one to represent the “Republican vote.” Nast called it “large, strong, and dignified” in his political cartoon published in Harper’s Weekly in 1874. He also mentioned elephants are “unsure of [their] own weight, plodding through planks representing [their] own party platform” (The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History).
Nast continued using the elephant to represent Republicans throughout the 1870s and 80s. It caught on and stuck.
I have some costume jewelry and a t-shirt with an elephant on them, but I’m not wearing them for now. I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea.
But all that is way beside the point.
A new baby elephant was born at the National Zoo two months ago, on Ground Hog Day, and now, she’s ready to meet her public.
Last November, I wrote “When Elephants Run—in Kenya” (11/25/25), to show farmers who used elephants’ natural fear of bees to protect their land. But, elephants are not naturally fearful, and this new baby elephant is used to humans.
Although scientists classify elephants into 3 distinct species, African savannah elephants and African forest elephants share many similarities. Their differences are “cosmetic.” Savannah elephants are larger than their forest relatives. Their tusks are longer and curve outward while the tusks of forest elephants are straight and downward pointing.
Elephants are the largest land animal by far. The average weight of an adult elephant is six tons. Measured from their shoulder, they stand about 11 feet and span between 19-24 feet from trunk to tail. The next largest land mammal is the white rhino at 2-1/2 tons and only about six feet tall.
African forest elephants are critically endangered. Due to poaching for their luxurious ivory tusks and habitat loss, the forest elephant population has declined by approximately 95% in the past 100 years (Global Conservation.org). African savannah elephants are endangered, too.
So are Asian elephants. Their trouble comes in three areas and all are human related.
Roads, buildings, and farming give elephants a double whammy. First, elephants lose their land to human development and farming. Using grazing ground for farms makes humans and elephants adversaries. And we all need to eat to survive.
Second, intersecting their migratory paths to build roads and expand cities creates isolation and fragmentation for the elephants,… making it more difficult for them to find food, water, and mates, leading to a decline in overall population health (International Fund for Animal Welfare, IFAW).
Finally, poaching.
But, elephants are a keystone species, crucial stewards of their environments. They disperse seeds, promoting vegetation. They clear trails and paths, making way for new forest growth. Their grazing helps control certain plant species, providing natural fire control.
In India, elephants serve as a strong spiritual symbol protecting home and family. They attract good luck, abundance, long life, and wisdom.
Elephants are deeply revered as sacred animals to followers of Hinduism.
They are known for their intelligence, emotional complexity, social structure (females live in related groups of six or seven, led by the eldest, called the matriarch.) The matriarch provides stability and determines ranging patterns for the rest of the family. She leads the herd to food. All the females help raise the calves.
A female Asian elephant is pregnant for 18-22 months. That’s almost 2 years, the longest gestation of any living mammal. It takes a long time for a baby to develop to such a great size. At birth, they weigh in at about 200 pounds and about three feet tall. A baby elephant can stand within minutes of being born. Two hours later, they’re walking.
But the pregnancy is long for another reason. Elephants are intelligent. An elephant’s brain is similar in structure to a human’s, but about three times as large and has three times as many neurons. And development of that complex brain takes time.
Elephants know what a pointing finger means. They can recognize themselves in a mirror. They exhibit compassion. They help injured members of their herd. They show grief when a family member dies. They sometimes cover a dead sister, mother, or aunt with leaves as a sort of burial.
And now, after nearly 25 years, a baby Asian elephant was born at the National Zoo in Washington, DC.
In captivity and in the wild, it’s not unheard of for a first-time mom to reject her baby and that’s just what Nhi Linh did when her baby, Linh Mai, was born.
But the team at the National Zoo had two years to plan for every contingency. As a result, Linh Mai is well-cared for by humans, she has an adopted elephant “auntie,” and has access to the rest of the herd.
Here is a link to five 1-2 minute entertaining and informative videos from the Smithsonian about Linh Mai.
Elephant lives are constantly threatened. Populations are in decline. According, Act Big, Live Small fewer than 50,000 Asian elephants are living in the wild. About 15,000 (unverified number) in captivity.
Welcome, Linh Mai, number 15,001.
Next on my reading list is a re-read of Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper/HarperCollins, 2022). Find a progress report here next time.
Stay curious! (and elephantine
in your compassion)
so that they would have enough
cake for an elephant.
Ginger said that 134 should do it.
But it was not easy to bake
134 Pound Cakes.
(Plus, they had to bake
for all those monkeys!)
from The Elephant’s Birthday
written by Cynthia Rylant
illustrated by Janna Mattia
Simon & Schuster/Simon Spotlight, 2025
(Accessed on Libby 5/31/26)
I love elephants. They are big and heavy. They are substantial. They’re gray, so they go with everything. And those ears! And Dumbo. And Horton. And Elmer. And Piggy’s friend. Have you read Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Algonquin Books/Workman Publishing, 2006)?
And when I read Why Elephants Weep: the Emotional Lives of Animals by Jeffrey Moussaief Masson (Delta, 1996), I understood on a gut level that animals (and I am sure plants, too) are sentient beings.
And, it’s not the elephants’ fault that Thomas Nast used one to represent the “Republican vote.” Nast called it “large, strong, and dignified” in his political cartoon published in Harper’s Weekly in 1874. He also mentioned elephants are “unsure of [their] own weight, plodding through planks representing [their] own party platform” (The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History).
Nast continued using the elephant to represent Republicans throughout the 1870s and 80s. It caught on and stuck.
I have some costume jewelry and a t-shirt with an elephant on them, but I’m not wearing them for now. I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea.
But all that is way beside the point.
A new baby elephant was born at the National Zoo two months ago, on Ground Hog Day, and now, she’s ready to meet her public.
Last November, I wrote “When Elephants Run—in Kenya” (11/25/25), to show farmers who used elephants’ natural fear of bees to protect their land. But, elephants are not naturally fearful, and this new baby elephant is used to humans.
Although scientists classify elephants into 3 distinct species, African savannah elephants and African forest elephants share many similarities. Their differences are “cosmetic.” Savannah elephants are larger than their forest relatives. Their tusks are longer and curve outward while the tusks of forest elephants are straight and downward pointing.
Elephants are the largest land animal by far. The average weight of an adult elephant is six tons. Measured from their shoulder, they stand about 11 feet and span between 19-24 feet from trunk to tail. The next largest land mammal is the white rhino at 2-1/2 tons and only about six feet tall.
African forest elephants are critically endangered. Due to poaching for their luxurious ivory tusks and habitat loss, the forest elephant population has declined by approximately 95% in the past 100 years (Global Conservation.org). African savannah elephants are endangered, too.
So are Asian elephants. Their trouble comes in three areas and all are human related.
Roads, buildings, and farming give elephants a double whammy. First, elephants lose their land to human development and farming. Using grazing ground for farms makes humans and elephants adversaries. And we all need to eat to survive.
Second, intersecting their migratory paths to build roads and expand cities creates isolation and fragmentation for the elephants,… making it more difficult for them to find food, water, and mates, leading to a decline in overall population health (International Fund for Animal Welfare, IFAW).
Finally, poaching.
But, elephants are a keystone species, crucial stewards of their environments. They disperse seeds, promoting vegetation. They clear trails and paths, making way for new forest growth. Their grazing helps control certain plant species, providing natural fire control.
In India, elephants serve as a strong spiritual symbol protecting home and family. They attract good luck, abundance, long life, and wisdom.
Elephants are deeply revered as sacred animals to followers of Hinduism.
They are known for their intelligence, emotional complexity, social structure (females live in related groups of six or seven, led by the eldest, called the matriarch.) The matriarch provides stability and determines ranging patterns for the rest of the family. She leads the herd to food. All the females help raise the calves.
A female Asian elephant is pregnant for 18-22 months. That’s almost 2 years, the longest gestation of any living mammal. It takes a long time for a baby to develop to such a great size. At birth, they weigh in at about 200 pounds and about three feet tall. A baby elephant can stand within minutes of being born. Two hours later, they’re walking.
But the pregnancy is long for another reason. Elephants are intelligent. An elephant’s brain is similar in structure to a human’s, but about three times as large and has three times as many neurons. And development of that complex brain takes time.
Elephants know what a pointing finger means. They can recognize themselves in a mirror. They exhibit compassion. They help injured members of their herd. They show grief when a family member dies. They sometimes cover a dead sister, mother, or aunt with leaves as a sort of burial.
And now, after nearly 25 years, a baby Asian elephant was born at the National Zoo in Washington, DC.
In captivity and in the wild, it’s not unheard of for a first-time mom to reject her baby and that’s just what Nhi Linh did when her baby, Linh Mai, was born.
But the team at the National Zoo had two years to plan for every contingency. As a result, Linh Mai is well-cared for by humans, she has an adopted elephant “auntie,” and has access to the rest of the herd.
Here is a link to five 1-2 minute entertaining and informative videos from the Smithsonian about Linh Mai.
Elephant lives are constantly threatened. Populations are in decline. According, Act Big, Live Small fewer than 50,000 Asian elephants are living in the wild. About 15,000 (unverified number) in captivity.
Welcome, Linh Mai, number 15,001.
Next on my reading list is a re-read of Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper/HarperCollins, 2022). Find a progress report here next time.
Stay curious! (and elephantine
in your compassion)
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