Video: Lessons we can learn from elephants | Network News

It is a remarkable scene: A petite blonde woman sitting among a herd of elephants, convinced that humans have much to learn from these giants of the African wilderness.

To mark World Elephant Day yesterday (August 12), Adine Roode, the founder of the Hoedspruit Elephant Rehabilitation and Development (HERD) Centre, shared a video with thousands of people, reflecting on the lessons she has learnt while living and working alongside elephants.

“World Elephant Day is a day to celebrate elephants, but more importantly, to create awareness around the challenges they face and the importance of protecting their future.

“It gives us an opportunity to look beyond the fascination we have with these incredible animals and learn more about their lives, their families, their intelligence and the vital role they play in the ecosystems they call home,” she says.

Roode believes humans and elephants have more in common than many people realise. Both grieve, celebrate and form deep social bonds, while research has also shown that elephants use individual, name-like calls to address one another.

Her observations echo the message behind this year’s ‘Be More Like Elephants’ campaign, which encourages people to look at these animals differently.

“Elephants taught me not to rush, to be patient. Elephants taught me how to really forgive, although they often do not forget,” she says.

“Elephants also get super excited when a calf is born. Then it looks like a soccer match. You just have to stay out of their way.

“Elephants play rough with each other. It is worse than a rugby scrum. They have to challenge, they have to dominate.”

Laughing, Roode told Caxton Network News earlier today (August 13) that humans are not the only ones capable of holding a grudge.

“You are right that Oupoot from the world-renowned author Dalene Matthee’s Kringe in ‘n Bos neither forgets nor forgives his nemesis, Saul Barnard,” she muses.

Roode’s journey with elephants began more than 25 years ago when her mother, Lente Roode, hand-reared their first orphaned elephant.

“We named him Sebakwe and he is also an Amarula celebrity,” she says, sounding as proud as a mother talking about her children. The famous elephant has been the ‘face’ of Amarula in several advertisements.

“In fact, Sebakwe occupies pride of place on the front of the Amarula bottle,” Roode says.

Today, the Jabulani Herd consists of 15 elephants, the eldest of which is 40 years old. She says the herd includes rescued orphaned elephants as well as elephants born into the herd.

Although Roode does not refer to herself as an ‘elephant whisperer’, she admits that she would rather talk to elephants than human beings.

“In nature, I can speak to elephants in my mother tongue, Afrikaans. I can tell them stories and speak my heart out. I have cried before them, laughed before them. And I believe they understand me perfectly well.

“They are very sensitive animals and get upset easily when humans fight or are in pain. They communicate through their trumpeting and rumbling. I often understand what they are trying to ‘say’ to me.”

While Roode regularly gives names to the elephants in her herd, research has found evidence that wild African elephants also use individually specific, name-like vocalisations to address one another. The study, published in 2024, found that these calls do not simply imitate the sound made by the elephant being addressed, making the findings particularly significant in the study of animal communication.

“I believe that elephants understand the language of humans in the country or region they inhabit. In South Africa, for instance, the elephants understand the different vernaculars.”

She says she often wonders whether elephants from Zimbabwe or elsewhere in Africa would understand the languages spoken in South Africa – or even South African elephants.

Roode also notes that elephants communicate through their feet, an area she believes warrants more research.

“It is an untapped research field. I want to understand what they are saying and why they are stamping their feet.”

The intelligence and social complexity of elephants make their protection even more important, says Roode.

The Great Elephant Census found that Africa’s elephant population fell by about 144 000 between 2007 and 2014, with illegal poaching for the ivory trade identified as a major driver of the decline.

It is estimated that South Africa is home to roughly 44 000 to 45 000 elephants.

“Mothers are killed for their ivory tusks, the little ones are trapped in snares, and an overpopulated world is depriving elephants of their natural habitat.

“It is always terrible to see the condition of the little ones when we rescue them from a snare, with open wounds and maggots infesting their wounds.”

For Roode, however, the answer lies not only in protecting elephants, but also in understanding them.

After more than two decades alongside these animals, she believes their greatest lessons may be surprisingly simple: Slow down, be patient, value family and learn to forgive.

And perhaps, she suggests, humans could benefit from being a little more like elephants.