Smithsonian National Zoo's 45 year old elephant Shanti 2/14/2020. If you look at her feet you can see where keepers are treating abscesses caused by her arthritis.
Oh, she looks to be lifting her left leg slightly... She must need relief, but she really doesn't have a good leg to stand on. When I was there in October, she was in this exact position and made direct eye contact with me for about 3". She knows me from years of close-up visits before the renovation with my daughter in the dead of winter when we'd have them and Marie all to ourselves. She's very non-confrontational, and I've never seen that kind of penetrating eye contact from her. I'm positive she was trying to tell me something, in a way that seemed almost urgent for her, but I have no idea what it was. Thank you for sharing this. Bozie looks really good here, without those love handles I saw in October and January. Maybe she gets bloat as a result of that life-threatening gastro illness she had in 2013?
