Love is in the Air: Affectionate Elephants

Stocky and weighing 3 to 6 tons, elephants might not be the first animals you'd think of when talking about affectionate behaviour. Yet they do exhibit it in their own unique way. Instead of touching each other with hands like we do, these gentle animals use their trunks, the ends of which are surprisingly more sensitive than human fingertips. Elephants will caress each other's heads and backs, often to comfort those they love, and when engaged in a courtship, the couple will entwine trunks to show affection. These large animals produce a variety of sounds to express love and pleasure of each other's company, rumbling in a soft manner and purring similarly to cats. When a lady is ready to mate, the bull will follow her around and defend from other guys.