World Elephant Day
Next: August 12, 2027
A big day for gentle giants.
The story
Where it comes from
World Elephant Day was dreamed up in 2011 by the Canadian filmmakers Patricia Sims and Michael Clark together with Sivaporn Dardarananda of Thailand's Elephant Reintroduction Foundation, which returns captive elephants to the forest. The first was held on 12 August 2012, when the pair's documentary 'Return to the Forest' was released to mark the foundation's ten years of work. The day speaks for both Asian and African elephants, which face poaching, habitat loss, conflict with people and poor treatment in captivity.
How it's celebrated
About 100 elephant conservation groups around the world take part. Sanctuaries, zoos and wildlife groups hold talks and open days, schools learn about elephants, and people share what they know online. The organisers ask everyone to see elephants only in places where they live under care and protection, not where they are made to perform, and to support work that gives captive elephants a better life.
Did you know
- The Elephant Reintroduction Foundation has released more than 100 formerly captive elephants into three forest sanctuaries in Thailand, where calves have since been born in the wild.
- Thailand has its own National Elephant Day on 13 March, the date in 1963 when the white elephant was chosen as a symbol of the country.
- Bornean elephants, found mainly in Sabah, Malaysia, stand about 2.5 metres tall, the smallest living elephants, and only about 1,000 remain.
Coming up next
- International Left-Handers Day · August 13, 2027
- Maulidur Rasul · August 14, 2027
- Hans Christian Ørsted's Birthday · August 14, 2027
- Independence Day (India) · August 15, 2027
- Opening of the Panama Canal · August 15, 2027
- First Transatlantic Telegraph Message · August 16, 2027