How elephants do sun cream: Animals are completely white after covering themselves in clay to stop getting burned
These amazing elephants look like they belong in Madame Tusk-auds – but in fact they are anything but statues.
Despite appearing to be carved from stone, the white elephants have in fact smeared themselves in white clay.
The pale coat lends the elephants a marble-like appearance, confusing many tourists into thinking they’ve run into a herd of albino animals.
Elephants have developed a clever coping strategy to protect themselves from sunburn – they coat themselves in clay
These majestic beasts use clay from the Etosha Pan – a 120km-long (75mile) dry lakebed which forms part of the Kalahari Basin in the north of Namibia
The pale coat lends the elephants a marble-like appearance, confusing many tourists into thinking they’ve run into a herd of albino animals – or even statues
The playful herd was caught on camera by Anja Denker in the Etosha National Park
To give themselves protection from the fierce sun, the elephants use clay from the Etosha Pan – a 120km-long (75mile) dry lakebed which forms part of the Kalahari Basin in the north of Namibia.
‘The elephants use this clay and the calcite sand to coat themselves. It dries in the sun and lends them their white appearance.
‘People often think of them as great white marble statues and they certainly enthral the visitors, especially those that have never seen the “white” elephants before.
Ms Denker said: ‘The name Etosha means “great white place”, due to the white clay which covers the expanse of the pan’
‘Their interactions with each other are wonderful to watch,’ Ms Denker added. ‘They wallow in the water, stomp on the ground, shake and flap their ears or quench their thirst’
‘A misconception is that they are albino elephants but this is definitely not the case.
‘Their interactions with each other are wonderful to watch.
‘They wallow in the water, stomp on the ground, shake and flap their ears or quench their thirst.
‘It is not really rare to see them in Etosha, however they are certainly unique to Namibia and the Etosha Pan.
‘I don’t think you get the ghostly white appearance anywhere else in the world.’