Steve Bloom
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Asian Elephant Swimming, Andaman Islands
"Elephants love water, and spend a great deal of their time bathing and wallowing in waterholes or rivers. They are among the best long-distance swimmers of all the mammals, and even young calves are capable of swimming across rivers, usually with some support from the adults in the herd.
Their bodies are quite buoyant, and the elephants' huge bulk is supported by the water. Legs become giant paddles, and the trunk is pushed up like a periscope and used as a snorkle. They can achieve speeds in excess of 3.5km per hour.
Some elephants will swim for sheer pleasure, though an elephant swimming in the clear blue water of the Andaman Sea is an unusual and somewhat incongruous sight. The Andaman Islands, stretching over a distance of 352km, are a string of about 550 volcanic islands arising from a submerged mountain chain in the Bay of Bengal. Elephants used for logging in the Andaman Islands were occasionally taught to swim in the sea in order to cross from one island to the other."