A lot of people love elephants, you can tell by stuffed elephants in the shops, elephant statues, elephants on clothes and blanket. Some people even have elephant tattoos. Elephants have been human’s passion, but do you know why we are so obsessed with them?

A Stanford University Medical School assistant professor, Caitlin O’Connell Rodwells, states that people are drawn to elephants because they are caring, intelligent and are able to form bonds. However, currently, African elephants are listed as vulnerable and Asian elephants are listed as endangered. Here are some reasons to love and support elephants so you can share them with your family and friends. For whichever reason you love elephants, you can express your love by saving them from going extinct.

1. Elephants are Feminists!

Elephant herds are matriarchal, and the matriarch holds the key position in the herd. Even at the Wildlife SOS Elephant Conservation and Care Centre, Mathura, the elephants adopted one of the older females – Asha, who formerly gave rides to tourists at Jaipur’s Amer Fort – as their matriarch. Asha leads the girls when they are out on their walks, taking special care to guide and keep an eye on blind elephants Lakhi and Suzy. And when Asha trumpets, the other elephants gather around, even the naughtiest of the babies! There’s no messing with this massive matriarch.

2. They Stick Together

Elephants are really amazing when it comes to family bonds. They don’t abandon each other. They stick together through everything. They are always there for each other no matter what. Families that stick together like that really is beautiful in itself. It’s even more beautiful with their amount of loyalty to each other. Their loyalty shows their intelligence and how truly loving they are.

3.Elephants Hug Each Other

Hugs are a way to comfort or show someone you care. Just like humans, elephants hug their friends and family to comfort them. However, they do not embrace as humans do. Elephants hug each other by wrapping their trunks around each other and putting their trunks in each other’s mouths. Elephants do know when another elephant is feeling sad, scared or upset.

4. Elephants are Resourceful.

Elephants repeatedly prove their genius by adapting to any situation with ease and resourcefulness. They use dust and mud to keep their skin safe from irritants and the sun and have been known in the wild to induce labor in pregnant elephants by self-medicating with natural herbs! They can turn a tree into a scratching post, a tyre into a toy and use branches to itch otherwise hard-to-reach places!

5. Elephants are all about teamwork!

Elephants understand that they’re stronger as a herd, and herds will work together to get out of sticky situations. When rescued circus elephant Sita collapsed one night at the rescue facility, the other elephants made multiple heartfelt attempts to lift her back to her feet, eventually trumpeting together loudly to get the attention of the staff that were able to get to Sita in time to get her safely back on her feet.

6. Elephants make great parents.

In the wild, elephants are incredibly protective and nurturing of their young, even adopting orphaned calves and looking out for babies that aren’t their own. Obtaining elephants for captivity involves poaching calves from the wild, snatching them from their doting mothers and families when they are still very young. The youngest elephants at ECCC, Peanut and Coco, were immediately adopted by Asha’s herd, and are being brought up by blind female elephant Lakhi, with all the love and attention of a truly dedicated mother!

7. Elephants are environmentalists!

Knowing that their environment is incredibly important, these gentle giants do more than their share to keep it healthy. Elephant movement in the wild contributes greatly to dispersion of seeds, the creation of small water holes, clearing of old forest, and regeneration of new forest cover!

8. Elephants don’t forget, but they do forgive!

Elephants are known to have excellent memories but Wildlife SOS’ experience shows they don’t hold grudges! Despite the years of cruelty meted out to them by their former human owners, Wildlife SOS’ rescued elephants are kind and gentle with their new caretakers and even with the visitors and volunteers that come by to see them, slowly learning to trust people.

Elephants are so unique and special, yet they are the target of poachers and at the mercy of abusive owners all over the country and the world. Let’s hope that a better understanding of these amazing creatures, and their vital place in the ecosystem encourages people to be kinder to them, to avoid encouraging abuse in circuses and other captive situations, and to do their bit to help conserve this species.