Today we have a look at everything that is not an elephant, including my friend who loves them and who celebrates today.

---

Prompt 24: “Today’s (optional) prompt is a fun one. Find a factual article about an animal … just make sure it repeats the name of the animal a lot. Now, go back through the text and replace the name of the animal with something else … You should wind up with some very funny and even touching combinations, which you can then rearrange and edit into a poem.“

I soon realised that I cannot use my friend instead of the word elephant in the sentences I found without changing something. So I decided to use the negative form. Mostly.

My elephant-loving friend

My elephant-loving friend is not the largest living land animal.
She is not found most often in savannas, grasslands, and forests. 
She does not weigh up to 9 tons 
     neither stands 3 to 4 metres.
She does not have much larger ears.
She does not most often curl the tip of its trunk around an item 
     and pick it up.
She does not use the trunk like a hand.
She does not use it to place vegetation into the mouth.
She cannot produce a variety of other sounds 
     by beating the trunk on hard ground.
She does not insert her trunk into her mouth, 
     withdraw liquid, 
     and spray herself with it.

Her tusk size and shape are not inherited.
She does not live in small family group led by old females (cows).
She is not uncontrollable,
     sometimes even by her own handler.
She does not wean until she can no longer tolerate 
     the pokes of her offspring’s emerging tusks.

My elephant-loving friend does not spend 
     many hours of each day eating.
She does not strip bark from a nearby tree 
     and chew it until it makes a large ball.
She does not consume about 100 kg of food 
     and 100 litres of water per day.

My elephant-loving friend migrates seasonally 
     according to the availability of food and water.
Memory plays an important role during this time, 
     as she remembers locations of water supplies.
She is capable of recognizing herself in a mirror.
She can reach a top speed of 40 km per hour.
It is not easy for her to lie down and get up; 
     she sleeps lying down for three to four hours during the night.

She has not been domesticated.

She was not the only one that survived to reach Italy.*

*The most famous historical event using elephants in war was that of Hannibal, the young commander of the Carthaginians who crossed the Alps from Spain into Italy. He left Cartagena, Spain, in 218 BCE with 37 elephants – 36 African forest elephants and one Asian. … The Asian, Hannibal’s personal elephant named Surus (meaning “Syrian”), was the only one that survived to reach Italy. (From britannica.com)

---

In photos, more things that are not elephants, as photographed this past year. Usually on this day, my elephant-loving friend’s birthday, I post photos of elephants that I collect wherever I can find them (not living ones, I have only seen those in zoos and I stopped going there), but this year was a bit low on all sorts of activities. I was convinced that I didn’t have a single one this year. Or do I? Have a look.

Happy forty-eleventh birthday, Taja! I miss you and wish to toast to your health: cin cin!

---

For: