Elephant tales...

 

Here I am, posing with a sculpture of a rather cheerful elephant! 
While elephants don't feature in The Case Against Fili Du Bois, the Franschhoek valley - where the book is set - was once alive with these giants up until the 17th century. The last elephant apparently left for wilder parts in 1850.


Before the arrival of French Huguenot settlers, who gave Franschhoek its name and developed its reputation for fine wine production, the area was in fact known as Olifantshoek (Elephant's Corner). The trails followed by those elephants have become the routes we drive or walk today through the valley, and over the mountains. Perhaps my fictional heroine, Fili, trod some of those paths near her parents' wine estate... 

Elephants can remember - for decades! I was reminded of this recently, while on a trip to a game reserve in South Africa to see them. Did you know that an elephant's brain weighs about 11 pounds? By contrast, our human brains weigh in at about 3 pounds. According to scientists, the part of the brain that stores memory, known as the cerebral cortex, is particularly large and well-developed in elephants. Matriarchs gather experiences throughout their lives, and these are stored as memories to help guide their herd to the water and food sources they need. Elephants can also acknowledge animals they have seen before - maybe many years ago; they can even recognise themselves in a mirror, a trait few animals possess. And, most poignantly, they display grief when confronted by a death in their herd.
They are more like us than we realise...