The elephants are actually nowhere near Onduli Ridge, and we drove quite a way through the desert to find them. The landscape was stunning, but it was not easy driving. They were gathered in a dry river bed, doing what elephants do, which is eat, walk, poop.

The humble elephant should be a symbol for perseverance in the face of adversity. Where I, as an elephant, would just lay down and die, they quietly and without complaint go about their task of walking and constantly eating to support their massive bodies, surely an evolutionary uh-oh, rarely resting. To stop eating means starvation. The digestive system of an elephant is woefully inadequate.

Most of the plant matter they consume comes out undigested, and since they eat so much they constantly defecate. This explains why modern day Republicans have embraced the humble elephant as their animal of choice. Unlike the G.O.P’s droppings, however, this shit makes the world better. It helps provide fertilization for the next generation of trees and grasses. Birds feed on the seeds broken open by processes within the elephant’s gut. Elephants are important in their ecosystems, a net benefit to the world. This is in contrast to the political party.

These elephants will wander out of range of Onduli Lodge by tomorrow. But they will be back. Their orbit is large, and they have miles to go before their jobs on this Earth are done.