Archive - Amboseli National Park, Kenya
December 04, 2021
Every weekend we present a notable item from our archives.
This EPOD was originally published May 13, 2013.
Photographer: Sheyenne Scriven
Summary Author: Sheyenne Scriven; Jim Foster
The photo above showing a small herd of elephants in Amboseli National Park, Kenya, was taken in late December 2010. Snowcapped Mount Kilimanjaro (located across the border of Kenya in Tanzania) looms in the background. Kilimanjaro, a dormant stratovolcano topping 19,039 ft (5,803 m), is the highest mountain on the African continent. Despite the arid conditions pictured above, December is usually a rather rainy month in east Africa. However, the long rainy season on Kilimanjaro begins in March and lasts early June -- this is when most of the snowfall is observed.
African elephants are the largest land animals on Earth. The biggest tuskers may stand 13 ft (4 m) tall, weigh as much as 14,000 lbs (6,350 kg) and require 300 lbs (136 kg) of food such as bark, leaves, fruit and roots each day to sustain them.
Photo details: Camera Maker: OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.; Camera Model: u7000,S7000; Focal Length: 9.1mm (35mm equivalent: 52mm); Aperture: f/4.3; Exposure Time: 0.0020 s (1/500); ISO equiv: 64.