If you think about it, an elephant’s tusk is a big tooth. And like any tooth, a tusk can break or otherwise get damaged and the elephant would then need to see a dentist (shudder!). That’s exactly what happened in the North Carolina Zoo.

But how exactly does one operate on an elephant’s tusk? Dainty dental equipments surely aren’t enough…  Enter Dr. Gary Spodnick and his power tools!

Disclaimer:  This version of the video, although no blood is spilled, may be disturbing to some viewers, since the power tools are shown in use on the animal.

Link – via myfox8

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by CommentKiller.

September 22nd is Elephant Appreciation Day, celebrated since 1996. The official website has many suggestions for ways to celebrate the holiday, but you can use your imagination to honor elephants in your own way. Tell elephant jokes, send an ecard, watch elephant videos on YouTube, or make a donation to one of the many organizations dedicated to the care and protection of the world’s largest land mammal. Link -via mental_floss

(image credit: Flickr user Carmelo Aquilina)

The elephants at the Wildlife Safari near Eugene, Oregon are fundraising and they don’t seem to mind. The safari’s three African elephants, Tiki, Alice, and George, have a job at the new "Elephant Car Wash".

For $20, visitors can have an up-close-and-personal encounter with the elephants as they wash down their car.

There’s no guarantee that your car will actually get cleaned, but hey, everybody seems to be having fun!

Link (with self-starting video)

Campos-Arceiz examined 290 elephant dung piles and found six frog individuals in five dung piles, representing three species: the ornate narrow-mouthed frog Microhyla ornata, another narrow-mouthed species Microhyla rubra, and a frog species in the Sphaerotheca genus.

While Campos-Arceiz is uncertain why the frogs were residing in the elephant dung, he speculates that “elephant dung provides a good shelter. I found the frogs in an arid area during the dry season. Under such conditions and in the absence of litter, elephant dung is probably a good alternative to spend the day in. Elephants digest food very poorly. Their feces contain a large proportion of undigested material and are highly fibrous. When fresh, elephant dung is humid and probably cooler than the environment during the day. Moreover, frogs could eat some of the many invertebrates present in elephant dung.”

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by dradell.

When Ford Cochran, National Geographic Blog Wild editor, asks Nat Geo photographer Tim Greenleaf for some advice, here’s what he has to say:

When I stopped by his office this morning to pick it up, he asked if I’d seen this photo he shot in view of Mount Kilimanjaro during a visit to Kenya’s Amboseli National Park.

“Photography rule number one,” he admonished. “Don’t forget to look behind you!”

In fairness, Tim noted that the photographer and videographer above might have been filming, say, Amboseli’s deeply endangered lions rather than the elephants. But still.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Marilyn Terrell.

Crooked Brains blog has a very spiffy collection of antique and unusual padlocks, from back in the days where any household item was an opportunity for showing off craftmanship.

Link – via somethinbeautiful

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by feroz557.

Australian artist Brooke Bobridge, who is currently living in Bangkok, Thailand, took a series of graffiti by local and international artists imploring passer-bys NOT to feed the elephants. They want to discourage "elephant begging" where the pachyderms are used to part tourists from their dollars (or technically, bahts).

Link – via amy sol blog

If this isn’t history’s most awesome video clip of an elephant in action, then I don’t know what is … Behold the water skiing elephant which performed for the 1959 Pittsburgh Bicentennial regatta.

Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] – via Canucklehead

Here is a really neat PSA from the “International Fund for Animal Welfare” from Germany concerning the trafficking and buying of products made from protected and endangered animals such as the Elephant. Air Dumbo now landing!

Jeremy Wood of GPS Drawing has a large canvas: the world. He uses Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to record and render his movement into a drawing on a map.

I’m particularly fond of this 11.2 km (about 7 mi.) long GPS elephant in the streets of Brighton and Hove, UK: Link – via Forum, original post by lilrawker

A video clip of an elephant painting a self-portrait. Fake? You be the judge. Or just sit back and relax, and enjoy the video.

Link [YouTube]