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A (hopefully just the right amount of formal) “Hello“

Emmalephant

Hello!

First things first: English is not my native language (I’m sure you’re gonna notice)

Second: I am not officially diagnosed. This is the first time I dare to participate in some kind of autistic community. Autism has been a big topic in my life for about 3-4 years now. Those years were spent with intense research and much pounding and honestly? I don’t know for sure if I am autistic, nonetheless, learning about autism and autistic coping strategies helped me a lot and many of my friends (and former teachers) have talked to me about me being autistic, hence I thought it might be beneficial for me to try this out. I hope that is fine with everyone, if not… Please let me know.

I’m 18 and moving steadily towards graduating this year (I’m doing the German “Abitur”. I think you could compare it to the A-Levels although I do think, that the Abitur is a bit more valuable in terms of qualification, not sure though.)

I could talk for hours about medicine, elephants, wildlife (on land but also a bit of marine life, mostly mammals like whales) and biology in general (e.g. genetics), as well as many shows and books (e.g. A Good Omen + adaptation, Harry Potter, Dune (not finished yet but super into it), The Big Band Theory etc.)

Bye! 

Parents

  • Hello and welcome. When I read that you liked elephants it made me think immediately of my 12 year old autistic daughter who absolutely loves cows. It made me smile wondering if you had the same level of interest as her - she has cow print everything and will wear her cow onesie at every opportunity! What do you find most interesting about elephants?

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  • Hello and welcome. When I read that you liked elephants it made me think immediately of my 12 year old autistic daughter who absolutely loves cows. It made me smile wondering if you had the same level of interest as her - she has cow print everything and will wear her cow onesie at every opportunity! What do you find most interesting about elephants?

Children
  • in reply to pdaddio83

    Thank you! Honestly? Everything! Their social structures are fascinating and their abilities to adapt are stunning. When people first discovered elephants living in the desert, they thought it might be another subtype, but we got to learn that those are just African Savanna Elephants that learned to live in quite harsh conditions.

    I also love Forest elephant, a subspecies of Loxodonta Africana. Asian elephants are my least favourite elephants, but obviously still a great species.

    My favourite fact might be, that elephants manage to defy Peto’s Paradox, thus being able to live up to a high age without getting cancer even though they have huge mass and a large sun-penetrated skin. It’s mostly about having extra copies of anti-oncogenes and a bit more efficient apoptosis-promoting proteins, plus the ability of their bodies to indentify anomalies more efficiently. 
    But their communication via infrasound, which they are able to perceive through their feet over distances of up to 10 km, is also very impressive.