World Elephant Day 2021: Facts And Quotes To Celebrate This Animal

World Elephant Day is marked annually on Aug. 12 to "help conserve and protect elephants from the numerous threats they face."

The day, which was first celebrated in 2012, is observed to increase conservation efforts and create awareness about poaching.

Though they are adored by many, elephants face several threats including loss of habitat and poaching. The animals are mainly poached for ivory, which is used to make jewelry, religious ornaments and items for decorative purposes. In the black market, ivory price starts at $1,500 and the rate increases depending on its size. The sale of ivory has been banned in many countries.

The two well-known species of this animal are the African elephant and the Asian elephant. They are both in danger. The African elephant is the largest land mammal on Earth.

Here are some quotes about elephants, collected from Everyday Power, to share on this day:

1. "Nature's great masterpiece, an elephant – the only harmless great thing." – John Donne

2. "If elephants didn't exist, you couldn't invent one. They belong to a small group of living things so unlikely they challenge credulity and common sense." – Lyall Watson

3. "But perhaps the most important lesson I learned is that there are no walls between humans and the elephants except those we put up ourselves, and that until we allow not only elephants, but all living creatures their place in the sun, we can never be whole ourselves." – Lawrence Anthony

4. "Elephants love reunions. They recognize one another after years and years of separation and greet each other with wild, boisterous joy. There's bellowing and trumpeting, ear flapping and rubbing. Trunks entwine." – Jennifer Richard Jacobson

5. "I have a memory like an elephant. I remember every elephant I've ever met." – Herb Caen

6. "Primate and elephant and even pig societies show considerable evidence of care for others, parent-child bonding, solidarity in the face of danger, and so on." – Christopher Hitchens

7. "Elephants don't know anything about the world of ants; the peaks of mountains are oblivious of what is happening on the plains!" – Mehmet Murat ildan

8. "The elephant can survive only if forests survive." – Mark Shand

9. "I feel as if I go to Africa, I may never come back. I'm just going to live with the animals and adopt an elephant, and it's going to be my friend." – Dianna Agron

10. "And the elephant sings deep in the forest-maze; About a star of deathless and painless peace; But no astronomer can find where it is." – Ted Hughes