Holly Fleeting, age 11, of Ilion, New York, for her question:
Can elephants swim?
Yes they can.. But if Santa stuffs a four .ton elephant into your stocking, it is not wise to let him share your backyard swimming pool. Even the deep end is hardly deep enough and his bulky body would displace enough water to slosh all over the premises. Besides, the paddling pachyderm would look ridiculous and most likely suffer an elephant sized attack of embarrassment.
Every elephant loves to wallow in the mud by a river, take a pool side shower and wade out into deeper water. But he weighs about four tons and in mid stream you would expect him to sink like a stone. Not at all. In deep water he tends to float like a buoyant ship and under the right conditions he can swim very well. Swimming in calm water seems to be no trouble at all and observers report that he can keep going for as long as six hours.
However, his buoyancy is a serious problem to swimming in turbulent water. Strong currents swirl him around, he loses control and may drown in panic. This problem confronted Hannibal, when he set out to conquer the Roman world with a herd of elephants. When his army reached the Rhone, the river was swollen with flood water. No intelligent elephant would venture into such a torrent. So sturdy rafts were built and cunningly camouflaged to look like dry land. The elephants were coaxed aboard and ferried across with much to do.
Asian elephants live where the rivers dry up during the hot monsoon season. The big animals take sand baths and.dig holes to find drinking water below the surface. Then the wet monsoon arrives with a deluging downpour. The rivers become swollen torrents and the wise elephants know enough to beware. They may wadesin, but never deep enough to get swept away.
Naturally an elephant's child is less wise than the old timers. He may decide to dunk himself in the deep, cooling water. Or he may follow his tall mother and accidently wade out of his depth. Then the swift current swishes him around like a bobbing cork. Several breathtaking stories tell how a mother risks her life to rescue her baby elephant from a swollen river.
Later in the season, when the rivers calm down, the elephants may or may not go for a long swim. As usual, the herd keeps together and the members look out for each other. Junior is instructed to stay close, very close to mother. Motherly aunties are nearby, ready to lend a helping trunk in case of trouble.
Though an elephant can swim, as a rule he prefers to enjoy the muddy brink of a lake or river. He uses his marvelous trunk to suck up water and tips it back to squirt showers over his head. When the river is well behaved, he cautiously wades out until the cooling water covers his shoulders.