Thursday, April 21, 2005

Stand By Your Shrubbery?



Have you ever seen a hedge like this before? Some superlative trimming has been undertaken on this particular plant. This is a particularly rare breed of elephant known as a hedgephant. This species is unfortunately close to extinction*, and like its elephant brothers, is in need of much love and affection from the human race.

I stumbled upon this amazing piece of greenery in the beautiful palace gardens of Bang Pa-In, which is near to the ancient capital of Ayuthaya in Thailand just north of the current capital, Bangkok. Ayuthaya itself is stunning, with the remains of the many historic temples scattered all over the town, which has been declared a UNESCO world heritage site. An intrepid traveller here has posted some more beautiful pictures of Ayuthaya, including a few of the elephant conservation centre situated there, of which I have been unable to find much more info to share with you, unfortunately.

*although, if you look closely, you can also see in the photo a rare picture of a baby hedgephant in its infancy, stood proudly by his mother. I'm sure in the years to come this baby will also mature into a fully grown hedgephant.

1 comment:

John McClure said...

You look like a hard-of-hearing superman in that one. Nice work!
(Absolut and tonic? Yuk!)