Behind-The-Scenes: With The Elephant in the Room (Patreon)

With Deep Look, we’ll often focus on aspects of the natural world that are very, very small. But in our latest episode, How Elephants Listen … With Their Feet, we put the spotlight on the largest land animals in the world and how these magnificent creatures communicate their movements over vast distances. Producer Elliott Kennerson learned firsthand how they tell folks who’s in charge – when he and cinematographer Josh Cassidy were charged by an elephant during their shoot.   

Mervin Ramirez feeds Toka, while Elliott, Josh and Ed Stewart film and observe her mealtime at PAWS 

Setting the stage for an elephant film shoot

Elliott: “We had beautiful footage from Africa of the elephants, but needed to film close-ups for Deep Look. We were after the details of the anatomy: not only the feet, but eyes, ears, trunks, etc. We knew it would involve filming the pedicure, which I considered really important. If their feet aren't healthy, the elephants are cut off from the world, in a way, just as we might be if we walked around blindfolded or with our ears plugged.”

She’s the boss 

Elliott: “This was all happening within a very safe environment. There was a super-duper industrial fence in between us in this barn that they use for the elephant care. So she kind of loped in casually, took measure of us, then walked towards us slowly with her ears out ... which for an elephant is approximately like having your gun drawn. She circled away, then charged in our direction.

An elephant charge maybe looks more like a big jog, but make no mistake, it was a message to us! The air shook, the earth rattled, I instinctively froze. Time moved slowly, but this moment only lasted about 5 seconds. She was showing us her power and her pride, and it was pretty breathtaking.”

You just had to be there to know how scary it really was in real life 

Josh: “The video totally doesn’t do it justice. Something about being there just made it so much more intimidating. You really see the bars of the cage more on camera than you did in person. In person, you look past the bars and just see the giant elephant charging towards you. And when she trumpeted, it was undeniable. The camera microphone has a limiter to keep it from blasting out the electronics. So the sound you hear coming out of the camera is nothing like what we actually heard in real life. It was so loud that you could feel it all throughout your body. And also it reverberated off the floor and the ceiling, so it was really an intense sound.” 

The really surprising thing for me was when she came towards us, charged – then stopped. Her trainers said, “Hey Toka, You’re a good girl.” She was immediately nice, sweet, wanted to cooperate and be friendly. Yet two seconds ago, it seemed like she was going to trample us to death if she could.” 

Josh films Mervin Ramirez feeding Toka while Dr. Jackie Gai checks her ear

The beauty of the beast

Elliott: “The energy that emanated from the elephant was kind of awe-inspiring. Her movement, her breaths, even her eye blinks were just monumental. She had such gravitas. You feel quite small, and it becomes understandable why people worshipped these animals.”

Nail-biting is delicious and nutritious … if you’re an elephant

Elliott: “If you have that predilection for scraping down your calluses or nail-biting, then there's something satisfying about watching it. But after the pedicure was over, the scrapings of the foot were lying a pile. Her trunk came around, scooped them up, and she ate the shavings, which resembled these huge ribbons of cheese. The trainer turned to our (pale) faces and said something like, "Good source of protein." That was kind of a “can't-unsee” moment. Gag me. It kind of checked all the rhapsodizing I was doing in my brain. I was abruptly reminded of how wild the animal is. It’s not doing anything to impress me or any other person. It’s living by its own rules.”