I was just rereading the 2005 Sheldrick Trust newsletter and it reminded me of an "unexplained" and astonishing animal story which I'll share below. Why don't you also post some of your amazing, unexplained stories for all to share.
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"An extraordinary incident, graphically described in the August 2005 Keepers Diary, astonished us yet again and left us marvelling at the mysterious powers of perception of elephants.
On this particular day, Sunyei, Olmalo and Wendi (elephant orphans) were allotted the privilege of leading the group to their normal feeding grounds in the morning, when suddenly Yatta, who was way behind, rushed ahead in a very agitated state, trumpeting in a high state of excitement and forcibly blocking their passage forward, determined to push them all back.
Since such behaviour was very out of character in Yatta, it prompted the Keepers to go ahead and investigate. They could not believe their eyes when they came upon a huge injured puff-adder lying in the path, coiled and ready to strike. No-one will ever fathom how Yatta knew the snake was ahead or even that it posed a threat to her adopted family, for the bush is very dense in that part of the world, and she could not possibly have seen it from her position at the back of the column.
Yatta, was reared from early infancy in the Nairobi Nursery, and, as far as we know, has no prior experience of snakes, yet she somehow sensed the threat. Yet again, we look upon this incident as proof of the genetic memory with which all elephants are endowed in the interests of survival, and which becomes honed by exposure to a wild situation".
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One wonders whether the puff adder hissed and she heard it way in the rear of the group (but if she had never seen or heard a snake before it wouldn't mean anything to her) or if the lead elephants panic'd and sent an ultrasonic message of fear. One will never know for sure, but it is another true story which again confirms how remarkable these animals are.
