Photo of the Day

Picture from the early 20th century of caretakers posing with two elephants in a river in Sri Lanka

March 31, 2021 | Family Elephants

Mahouts pose with their elephants in the Mahaweli River in Sri Lanka—known as Ceylon when this picture was published in March 1921. To work as a mahout—a caretaker and trainer of elephants—is often a family tradition, but in recent years the practice has been met with controversy.
Photograph by Helen Messinger Murdoch, Nat Geo Image Collection