"Elephant Diorama"

Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History

Washington , DC

Welcome to the Elephant's World

Trunk raised...ears fanned...this elephant is on the alert. Something has caught his attention, and he's off to investigate.

In this Museum, we also investigate the natural world, using our rich collections to unravel the mysteries of nature and culture.

Come join this investigation. Listen. Explore this small slice of African savanna...and the many exhibits beyond.

Three feet to the left of this panel is the right end of a nine-foot-long panoramic video display set in the side of the diorama. It shows alternating views of

the African savanna. An elephant moves across the landscape--first alone, then in the company of others. Elephants spar, push over trees, and move

in small herds. A gold and red sunrise appears over an expansive lake surrounded by lush grasses. A hippo pokes his head above water level before

darting below again. Then, two adult elephants and a baby cavort in another waterhole, trunks swaying as they lumber along.

Have you heard the elephant trumpet?

Just above the screens, on the floor of the savanna diorama, are dried clumps of beige and faded yellow grasses. Alongside a pile of brown elephant dung are black dung beetles and a white cattle egret with its wings spread about two feet from tip to tip.

Now, move three feet to your left, just past the video screens. Reach up and feel for a depression in the diorama. This is the entrance to a jackal den. Just out of reach is the rear of a male jackal returning to the den after a night of hunting. He's going to regurgitate food for his mate, who is nursing young pups.

Continue moving clockwise around the diorama about eleven feet. Three feet from the floor is a window set in the wall of the diorama. Inside is the female jackal nursing her pups.

Listen for the jackal yelps.

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