March 1, 2017 - Two massive animals face off in South Africa’s Kruger National Park. But confrontation between an elephant and a white rhino isn’t based on predation, or even competition. It turns out the elephant just wants to play. According to National Geographic Explorer Joyce Poole, an expert on elephant behavior, the teenage male elephant makes a combination of gestures to invite the rhino into a sparring match. But the rhino can’t understand the signs, and interprets the approach as a threat. Elephants are intelligent, capable of recognizing a large repertoire of signals from their comrades. But predicting the reaction of another being is a subtler skill, especially if it's a different species.
READ more about this rare encounter between two of the world’s largest land animals.
