Deep Temples

Nobody knows Kham Pan’s real age. Many elephants have altered birth certificates and documents to make them seem younger when they are sold. However, you can estimate how old an elephant is by the dips in their temples. A baby elephant will have a round head but an old one will have large indents on both sides of their head.

Kham Pan is estimated to be around 65 to 75 years old. Not only do the indents tell an elephants age, but they also seem to act as pockets on their heads. Kham Pan always comes back with leaves and pebbles on the ridge. One day during morning feeding time, Pon put some corn on the top of her head and the ridge of her temples. I expected her to reach up and grab the food with her trunk, but she was smarter than that. She shook them off her head and grabbed all of them off the floor in one scoop.

We tried again and again, but she never used her trunk to retrieve the food. I was disappointed by that, but delighted by how her intelligence surprised me.