APDG ~ Elephant Appreciation Day - 9/22

Did you know that September 22nd is Elephant Appreciation Day. Well yes it is.

Elephant Appreciation Day gives you the opportunity to .... you guessed it......read a book on elephants, visit elephants at the zoo, or make elephant arts and crafts.

National Elephant Appreciation Day is a holiday to celebrate and honor one of the largest land mammals on Earth today. It’s not only a day to appreciate these magnificent creatures, but it’s also a good day to think about what each and every one of us can do to protect these animals before they disappear from the planet altogether. And no one wants these majestic creatures to disappear from the world. This is a day that falls on September 22nd every year, so anyone interested in these large mammals might want to consider celebrating this holiday.

This holiday can be traced all the way back to 1996. This is when Mission Media, a publishing and media company, decided to invent this day. They did it because the company’s owner, a Mr. Wayne Hepburn, developed a personal fascination with elephants and wanted to celebrate them. As the story goes, his daughter gave him an elephant paperweight that sparked his interest in these mammoth mammals. We’re unsure of the accuracy of this story, but it is one of the more common origin stories surrounding this holiday.

Below are some facts about elephants that everyone can appreciate. The following facts illustrate just how fascinating and amazing these large land mammals are and why it’s important that everyone takes the steps necessary to keep them safe.

1. Elephants are the largest land mammal in the world.
2. Different elephant species can be distinguished by their ears.
3. Elephants have approximately 150,000 muscles in the trunk.
4. The thickness of an elephant’s skin is approximately 2.5 cm in most areas on their bodies.
5. Elephants have to consume 150 kilograms of food per day to stay alive.
6. Elephants can spend up to 75% of their day eating to achieve the daily calories they need.
7. Elephant calves can stand up within 20-minutes of being born.
8. More elephants are being poached for their ivory than new elephants are being born.
9. Elephants take dust and mud baths to protect themselves from sunburn.
10. Every elephant produces about a ton of poo per week—poo that helps to keep the landscape fertile.

Doing anything elephant related is a great way to celebrate this holiday. That includes reading a book on elephants, visiting elephants at the zoo, or making elephant arts and crafts. It’s also a good day to donate to one of the many wildlife organizations that are dedicated to protecting these animals. This includes organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund, the Wildlife Conservation Society and Save The Elephants. Participants can also shout out their support of this holiday by using the hashtag #NationalElephantAppreciationDay on social media sites.

Next onto our swap:

Post THREE (3) pictures and/or gifs to each of your THREE (3) partner’s profiles with the theme “Elephant Appreciation Day” or elephants. The pictures that you choose may be the SAME OR DIFFERENT between all of your partners. Please choose pictures that you think THEY will enjoy!

Only people with well filled out profiles may participate in this swap. I will be checking the night before partners get assigned.

If you get 3 pictures from your partner on "Elephant Appreciation Day” or elephants you have to rate them a 5. The heart on the rating is for if you like what they sent.

To leave a photo on someone's profile use this code ! [ ] ( Put image address here ) With NO spaces & paste the picture's link between the curved parentheses.

Practice on your own profile first to be sure it looks good because you can easily delete it there.

Pick images that are size 300 wide or smaller to be sure they fit. I go to Google images to get my pictures.

Hover over images to see their size because there will be some larger sizes there too. If you really like something click on it and go to the words SEARCH BY IMAGE and click on that. THEN go to the word SMALL and see if there is one 300 size. There are other tricks in the group thread; AN EASY way to get a small PIC from a BIG one;-)

You can find moving pictures at http://giphy.com/

Please write the TITLE OF THE SWAP ON YOUR PROFILE DECO MESSAGE too! This makes it easier for partners that are in a lot of these swaps to rate it.

Any problems, feel free to contact me.

I want to thank @anrtist for allowing me to borrow SOME of her wording.