{"id":2187122,"date":"2025-06-12T12:00:58","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T11:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/?p=2187122"},"modified":"2025-06-07T09:57:22","modified_gmt":"2025-06-07T08:57:22","slug":"you-wont-believe-how-amazing-elephants-are-at-playing-soccer-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/you-wont-believe-how-amazing-elephants-are-at-playing-soccer-video\/","title":{"rendered":"You Won\u2019t Believe How Amazing Elephants Are at Playing Soccer! [VIDEO]"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Most of us have seen performing elephants forced to unnaturally balance on a ball, but it\u2019s much more fun watching them play a ball game freely with their friends.<\/p>\n<p>In this video, elephants at the Elephant Nature Park play with supporter Dani Globetrotter\u2019s gift of a red rubber ball.<\/p>\n<p>Watch as they kick the ball around joyfully, just like kids in a schoolyard. Their enjoyment is clearly to be seen; obviously, this is an organic form of play for the elephants, not a contrived activity performed solely for human amusement.<\/p>\n<p>But interestingly enough, it\u2019s much more fun to watch than any unnatural tricks.<\/p>\n<p>Thailand\u2019s Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai offers sanctuary and a natural environment for dozens of elephants and other animals.<\/p>\n<p>The animals\u2019 interactions with each other and the toys available at the park show that they have the same abilities to bond with their friends and experience joy as humans do.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Elephant Playtime\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/e0-Lso0C7lc\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><i>This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onegreenplanet.org\/news\/elephants-playing-with-ball-video\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">article<\/a> by Chrissy Spallone was first published by One Green Planet on 5 June 2025. Lead Image: Image Credit : Mohan Raj \/ Wikimedia Commons.<br \/>\n<\/i><\/p>\n<h2>Wildlife in catastrophic decline<\/h2>\n<p>The 73% decline in vertebrate wildlife populations during the last 50 years (mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish), is primarily driven by human activities that threaten biodiversity.<\/p>\n<p><em>Habitat Loss and Degradation<\/em> &#8211; human activities like deforestation, urbanization, and agriculture have led to the destruction and fragmentation of natural habitats, reducing the space and resources available for wildlife.<\/p>\n<p><em>Pollution<\/em> &#8211; air, water, and soil pollution from industrial activities, agriculture, and other sources can harm wildlife directly or indirectly by affecting their habitats and food sources.<\/p>\n<p><em>Climate Change<\/em> &#8211; changing weather patterns, rising temperatures, and sea levels are disrupting ecosystems and impacting species&#8217; ability to adapt and survive.<\/p>\n<p><em>Overexploitation of Resources<\/em> &#8211; unsustainable hunting, fishing, and logging practices can lead to the depletion of populations and the loss of biodiversity.<\/p>\n<p><em>Invasive Species<\/em> &#8211; the introduction of non-native species can disrupt ecosystems, compete with native species, and threaten their survival.<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" defer=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/install-popup-button.js\" id=\"donorbox-popup-button-installer\"> <\/script><a id=\"preview_inline_popup_button\" class=\"dbox-donation-button\" style=\"background: #0dc5dc; color: #ffffff; text-decoration: none; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; display: flex; gap: 8px; width: fit-content; font-size: 16px; border-radius: 5px; line-height: 24px; padding: 8px 24px;\" href=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/focusing-on-wildlife-needs-your-support?amount=50\" data-reminder-widget-enabled=\"true\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==\" fifu-lazy=\"1\" fifu-data-sizes=\"auto\" fifu-data-srcset=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 75w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 100w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 150w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 240w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 320w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 500w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 640w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 800w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 1024w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 1280w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 1600w\" fifu-data-src=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">Donate<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Help to protect wildlife by donating as little as $5. Our <a href=\"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wildlife-charities-supported-by-focusing-on-wildlife\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\">conservation partners<\/a> spend at least 80 percent of the money raised on actual fieldwork rather than administration and fundraising.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr style=\"border-top: 1px solid white;\" \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most of us have seen performing elephants forced to unnaturally balance on a ball, but it\u2019s much more fun watching them play a ball game freely with their friends. In this video, elephants at the Elephant Nature Park play with supporter Dani Globetrotter\u2019s gift of a red rubber ball. Watch as they kick the ball [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1178,"featured_media":2204419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/roundglass\/image\/upload\/f_auto\/ar_16:9,c_fill,w_700\/g_auto,q_auto\/v1603711335\/roundglass\/sustain\/Two-Elephants-Mohan-Raj-CC-BY-SA-3.0-1_ggntyj.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6985,5],"tags":[2414],"class_list":["post-2187122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-wildlife","tag-elephants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2187122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2187122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2187122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2204419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2187122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2187122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2187122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}