Elephants

Elephants are awesome animals!

The intriguing facts about them are too numerous to list here - but like all of creation, the more you learn about them, the more you see evidence of the Creator.

Here are just a few facts I was sent recently:

Elephants can live to be over 70 years old and they are the only mammal that can't jump!

Elephants have the longest pregnancy of all the animals. It takes a female 22 months from conception to give birth.

They also purr like cats do, as a means of communication.

Elephants, much like humans, cry, play, laugh, and have incredible memories.

Elephants can swim - they use their trunks to breathe like a snorkel in deep water.

Their feet are covered in a soft padding that helps uphold their weight, preventing them from slipping, and dulls any sound.

Therefore elephants can walk almost silently!

They are highly sensitive and caring animals. If a baby elephant complains, the entire family will rumble and go over to touch and caress it.

Elephants express grief, compassion, self-awareness, altruism and play.

These incredible creatures pay homage to the bones of their dead, gently touching the skulls and tusks with their trunks and feet. When an elephant walks past a place where a loved one has died, they will stop dead still; a siltent and empty pause that can last several minutes.

Botswana has one of the largest elephant concentrations in Africa, and it is growing due to elephants retreating to Botswana to escape poachers in neighbouring countries.

Botswana also has one of the most vigilent and active 'anti-poaching' units around.  Recently an anouncement was made in the media  that poachers should carry their passports with them as it would help Botswana to be more efficient at sending their bodies back to their own countries….you see Botswana has a 'no questions' policy that they will shoot to kill a poacher.

This might seem a little extreme, but Botswana is very protective of their wildlife.

And a recent incident helps to explain why…..

Despite their vigilence, the anti-poaching helicopter recently came across a particularly savage mass slaughter of 26 elephants in the Chobe National Park (where we were earlier this year) who had not just been killed and tusks removed, but had had their whole faces cut off.

Now it is true that as Christians we know human souls are of greater eternal importance than animals.

But we should reel in horror when God's creation is recklessly and selfishly destoyed.  We humans are pretty good at destruction of creation - whether it be permeating our world with plastic bags  and hormone altering chemicals  or saturating our bodies with often unecesary antibiotics and anti-bacterial soaps or cutting down every tree in sight so as to put in a housing estate….or even the reckless slaughter of elephants.

We can think that as Christians, because we value the soul over the body, that the body and creation in general is of little importance. 

But part of the role of humans on this earth is to manage and take care of the earth that was entrusted to us.  Those who have total disregard for God's creation are showing a total disregard for God, and in the process are also showing a total disregard for their fellow human beings with whom they share this earth.

Elephant populations have declined by 30% since 2007  across Africa!  If it continues at the same rate by the time the next generation are our age, there may not be any elephants!  There will be no opportunity for the grandchildren to ever show their kids an elephant and have such an awesome animal inspire honour and praise of the Creator!

Again what I'm about to say might seem strange, but do we pray for our governments that they will know wisdom and courage to honestly and faithfully do what they can to take care of the awesome creation God has given us? 

We should be ever aware of ways that we can be careful to take care of the aspects of creation that we have responsibility for each in our small corner. 

You may not have elephants in your country's 'back yard' to protect from poachers, but we all have areas where we need to be more aware, knowledgable, courageous and vigilent to avoid destruction of God's creation and promote wise stewardship.