Why Elephants Go Deep Underground | Caves of Mount Elgon

Elephants subsist on foraged vegetation, but even the thick forests of the Eastern Rift Mountains can’t always provide them with all the minerals they need to stay healthy. Females in particular often supplement their diets by eating soil or rock. But Mount Elgon, on the border between Uganda and Kenya, is the scene for an even more unique phenomenon. Here, savannah elephants have learned to mine a network of hidden caves for salt and mineral deposits.