Elephants love their mud. They squish it, fling it, ride it and learn from it. What's not to love? Watch as these elephants face their daily dose of mud and the fun, creativity and challenges that come along with it.
1. Mud-slide
Out of all the challenges that elephants face in the wild, mud is one that clearly tests their creativity. A group of conservationists caught this group of elephants in Kenya's Masai Mara, finding different ways to get down a muddy bank to get to the Sand River.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/YEhJ_ch87FQ
2. Stuck in the mud
For elephants, mud is a lot more fun when you're fully-grown and your thousands of muscles are strong enough to get you out of sticky situations. Here a baby elephant learns the hard way that stuck in the mud is no game. However, as elephants do, the herd worked together to get a panicked and exhausted little trunk out of the mud and back to safety.
3. Mud-mucking-about
Mud, glorious mud! If you're going to have to slop mud all over your body to protect your skin, you may as well have a little (or a lot) of fun while you're doing it. That's exactly what these two elephants in Tanzania's Lake Manyara decide to do. An elephant's seemingly tough exterior actually isn't all that tough. Their skin needs the help of dust and mud to help remove parasites and protect it from the sun - like a natural sunscreen.
As you can see, for an interesting (sometimes entertaining, sometimes heart-wrenching) time, take a sprinkling of elephants, throw in a sandy bank and just add water...