Watch this video to see how elephants survive in the desert.
Video Transcript
Instinct honed over time governs much of the life in the Namib. But some creatures also have to learn how to conquer these sands, using knowledge passed down over generations. African elephants are so resourceful they can survive even here in the heart of the desert.
Elephants have remarkable powers of memory. Though this desert is more than 2 million square kilometers in size, the hundred or so elephants it supports know precisely where to find enough to eat and drink. It takes a lot of food, up to 300 kilos a day, to feed the world's largest land animal. And all of that from a desert.
But there's one plant here, the nara, whose roots draw water from deep underground. Each year it produces a bumper crop of melons. Elephants just love them. Each melon is a valuable package of moisture and seeds. The plant also benefits from this plunder as its seeds may be carried for 50 kilometers in the elephant's stomach before being dropped in a pile of fertilizing dung.