Wake up call

This morning we awoke to quite a commotion! A herd of Oleophontus were moving down the valley not far from where we've set up camp. The rumbling of the ground beneath their giant forms and their plaintive calls to one another were loud enough to pull everyone out of our cozy blankets into the crisp morning air.

The children were beside themselves with excitement. Even Steve and I were amazed to see such a large herd! I've only seen 3 oleo's in my time- all when I was still very young. I had thought they had all been killed. This group, however, seems to have been doing well; we could even see a number of babies in the middle of the larger adults.

They are more impressive and beautiful than I remembered. The largest would've been taller than 3 wagons stacked one atop the other. They look similar to what was once called an elephant- in fact, it's believed they were originally bred from those ancient creatures. Looking at their enormous tusks, 2 curving up around their trunks, another 2 sloping down and forward, it's really no surprise that they were engineered for war. Their feet are incredibly dextrous, and the younger, smaller individuals even picked up items with their toes to inspect them.Light, dusty tan, they would easily blend into the back drop of the land if they weren't so huge!

In the wars, the soldiers would armor these creatures and fix spikes to them. Then they were starved and beaten, making them horribly mean. It was said they would actually go out of their way to kill a person! After the wars, of course, they were much too expensive to keep and were either killed or simply released into the wild. These ones must be the descendents of some of the more clever animals that actually survived! And although fearsome looking, they seemed to exhibit gentle kindness to each other. Several times we watched as one would lovingly caress another with it's trunk or playfully bump into one.

They seem to me to be not much different from ourselves.

I'm certain they knew we were there. We were down wind from them, after all. But still, they acted as though they didn't care. A few of the younger ones looked our way, but none made any move to come any closer.

I wish them well, and hope we'll see more on our journeys.