elephants

After years of struggle, I have accepted the fact that elephants are my favorite animal. Why the struggle, you ask? Because they were also the favorite animal of my ex-boyfriend's first love, which obviously meant I hated them (I'm Korean, we're vindictive like that).

But the years have passed, and the old high school grudges have dissolved along with them, and it has finally became unavoidably apparent that elephants are the best animals in the universe. And it's not just because I actually got to see them in the wild in Namibia (although that contributed). They are independently awesome. Not only are they beautiful, but they are among the most intelligent animals in the world. They mourn their dead by honoring their bones, and they can recognize when they are looking into a mirror, which is supposed to be the quintessential sign for the ability to empathize.

They show affection for each other by twining their trunks together, which is adorable. They communicate through vibrations they feel in the ground with their feet. They've got to be the only vegetarians in the world who don't really have predators, since their sheer size protects them. But even though they're huge, they walk in complete silence. When we saw 50 elephants walk through the brush towards a waterhole in Etosha National Park (see picture), there was absolutely no warning because their steps were so quiet.

Oh, and almost half of them are gay. Clearly an advanced animal. Definitely would have voted for Obama.