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Happy World Elephant Day!!! Elephantmote Ellie Elephant Fun Elephant Icon

First of all, I'm soooo sorry for the late submission. The day is almost over, but I hope you all don't mind. This was somewhat last minute. Plus I was busy with another project (which will be submitted tomorrow ;) (Wink)).

Today is all about all about the largest land mammals, as well as some of the most intelligent animals ever to walk the face of the earth; they're so intelligent, I consider them people. Elephants are among some of my most favorite species. From their unique anatomy, to their gigantic size, from their illustrious history, to their fame in human culture, from their unfathomable intelligence, to their heartwarming bonds, they are beloved beyond all measure. They can live longer than 60 years of age, exist in two types of herds (familial herds consisting of females and pre-adolescent males, and bachelor herds formed by teenage and older males), have tremendous memories, and come in three species: the Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus) and two types of African Elephants, savanna (Loxodonta africana) and forest (Loxodonta cyclotis). Of course, there were other members in prehistoric times that belonged to the order Proboscidea, such as mastodons and mammoths. Some species Channel Islands mammoth (Mammuthus exilis) were as short as 1.72 m (5.6 ft.) tall at the shoulders, while the largest species, such as the Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) or straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon namadicus) stood as tall as 4 m (13 ft.) to 5.2 m (17.1 ft.) tall at the shoulder. The woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) is by far the most famous of extinct Proboscideans. Hopefully, we can see them return, brought back as either clones or as hybrid offspring of modern day elephants. As a side note, of all the creatures I love most in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series, the Mumak (Mumakil plural) is my most favorite. These towering pachyderms might have been used as beasts of war for the Haradrim serving the dark lord Sauron, but they will always be treasured (plus they weren't even bred by Sauron or Morgoth). And despite his attempt to make them evil looking, Peter Jackson's portrayal of them is awesome. Not to mention they were depicted as 35 to 45 feet tall. Elephants are definitely some of the best animals in my book. It would sure be something if they were given nonhuman personhood rights.

It's such a shame however that throughout all of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic we only got one elephant in the series, and she appeared in the final season. Muriel is a cute little Giraffrican elephant calf who broke her trunk, and was brought to Fluttershy's Sweet Feather Sanctuary to recover. Of course her time there wasn't danger or fool proof. After Fluttershy and her pet rabbit Angel switched minds, the latter began to cause trouble at the sanctuary. Although Angel checked to see Muriel's trunk was healed, she accidentally sucked up the keys to the supply closet and had them lodged in her trunk. And if that wasn't bad enough, she got eaten by a big python named Antoine. Fortunately, when Fluttershy arrived to the sanctuary and was deathly exhausted, a repentant Angel organized all the animals in the sanctuary to retrieve the keys by rescuing Muriel from Antoine, and getting her to sneeze the keys out by having the snake scare the baby elephant. After Fluttershy was healed, and she and Angel switched back, they were on better terms, and Muriel remained in good health. Her stay in the sanctuary was not the most pleasant experience, but at least she can grow up and never "forget" the sweet pony and bunny pet who nursed her back to health. I wish Muriel had her family come to pick her up. Oh well, it was a small blessing to finally see at least one of the magnificent and unforgettable beasts.

I wish I submitted this earlier, but I was struggling on what this should look like. I hope you all love this the way this is. Since Muriel was the only elephant to appear in MLP:FIM, might as well have it like this.

Muriel by me

Elephants are some of my favorite animals, and they deserve love and appreciation for everything they are. I hope you all love this, and our trunky friends. Happy Elephant Day!

#worldelephantday2020

Upvotes at import: 17 | Stars at import: 9
Posted previously at: 2020-08-13T04:36:31 | Posted previously by: AndoAnimalia