The creatures stared at one another, unable to know what to make of the other.
"What are you?" The first animal asked. He was a huge four-legged herbivore that stood some 13 feet tall and looked to weigh 8 tons. He had a pair of fan-like ears, long and flexible nose, and two tusks that were actually teeth.
"Are you asking me, bud? Just what in the world are you supposed to be?" The second animal was a mammal like the first, but looked nothing like any animal that the first animal knew of. He was a mammal, that much was certain. But he had no limbs, paws, hooves, hands, wings, or feet. His body was thick, massive, and blubbery with what looked like flippers. In terms of girth, he was easily as large or even larger than a rhinoceros or a hippopotamus. But strangest of all was his nose. Like the first animal, he had a huge nose of some kind that inflated from time to time and seemed to amplify his already booming voice.
"I'm an elephant." The first animal said.
"Wait? Huh? You're an elephant? You don't look like any elephant that I've ever seen." The second animal said in disbelief. "Where are your flippers? Why do you have those huge ears and a long nose and teeth? How can you survive in the open oceans, with a body like that?"
The first animal got even more confused. "I should be the one asking you that! What kind of elephant are you? Why don't you have legs? Why is your trunk so short and why does it inflate when you talk? Where are your ears? Your tusks? How do you survive on land looking like you do?"
"I'm a seal. We all look like this." The second animal said.
"What's a seal?" The first animal asked.
"You don't know what you are, do you?" The second animal grumbled.
"I'm a pachyderm. An ungulate. An herbivore. I use my nose to grasp trees from leaves." The first animal said. "I do swim. As long as my feet can touch the bottom."
"Yep. You're definitely not a pinniped."
"What's that?"
"We're a type a marine mammal. We mostly live on open ocean, but come out onto dry land to mate and beach ourselves. Oh, and we can't breathe underwater since I am not a fish." The second animal said. "Don't confuse us with sea lions."
"Sea lions? There are lions living in the sea?" The first animal asked.
"You live in a very small world, don't you?" The second animal sighed.
"I've traveled the length and width of Africa. I know there is a land called Europe to the north of Egypt and a land called Asia to the east of Egypt. But I've never been to either of those lands. I know there are lakes and rivers. I know there is an ocean that separates our land from other lands. But I cannot cross it." The first animal said. "I was not aware that elephants could survive in the ocean until I met you."
"I'm an elephant seal. We're a species of seal. We mostly live in Antarctica, but some of us, like me, swim as far north as the southern tip of Patagonia in Argentina or here in Cape Town of South Africa. Humans take pictures of us whenever they see us."
"Why are you called an elephant when you are clearly not an elephant?"
"Well, why are you called an elephant when you are not an elephant seal?"
"Because I am an elephant."
"And I'm not?"
"You're a seal."
"I'm an elephant seal, yes."
"But you're not an elephant."
"And you are?"
The elephant shook his head. "Never mind. You got a name?"
"Name's Edwin, friend. You?"
"Lenny." The elephant said. "How'd you get here?"
"I swam here from Antarctica." Edwin said.
"What's that?" Lenny asked.
"It's an icy continent thousands of miles south of here. It is the coldest place on earth. Not many animals live there aside from penguins, porpoises, and seals like me. Humans come by on ships sometimes. Oh, and the whales." Edwin said.
"Whales? What are those?" Lenny said.
"The largest animals in the ocean." Edwin said.
"Bigger than me?" Lenny asked.
"Oh, incomparably so. Baby blue whales can get as big as you. Not all whales are dangerous. Or gigantic. Only some. Just the black and white ones with the teeth. Watch out for those bad boys. But the baleen whales don't have teeth and can't chew. They live on krill and plankton. They range from my size to big enough that their tongues or hearts weigh as much as you do."
"Please tell me they don't come onto land." Lenny shuddered a little.
"No. Not unless they're about to die or if they already died and a corpse washed up. Speaking of, I think I just saw one the other day. I don't think he's alive though."
Edwin slowly belly flopped his way to where he saw the whale as Lenny slowed down to keep pace with the much slower Edwin until they arrived at the site of the whale carcass in question. At first, Lenny's mind didn't register what he was looking at. He couldn't believe there existed an animal that big. But here was one. Easily 90 to 100 feet long, was the carcass of an utterly gargantuan animal with a fan-like tail and two huge fins on its side. Its thick, blubbery hide was a mix of blue and silver.
"Well, you weren't kidding." Lenny finally said.
"I wouldn't go near it. They're known to suddenly explode and send guts flying everywhere. If you are too close, it might hit you with enough to force to kill you."
"Can they talk?"
"No. At least, not any language I know. They do talk. I just don't understand it."
"Do they all get this big?"
"Nah. This is a blue whale. It's the largest species of whale. This one has been alive for a very long, long time, judging by its size."
They both stared at the blue whale in silence.
"What do you think killed it?" Lenny asked.
"Old age or humans." Edwin said.
"Humans?" Lenny asked.
"Humans shoot harpoons at whales to kill them for sport. Or their ships emit sonar noise that interfere with whales enough to disorient them and cause them to wash up on the shores, where they die because their bodies are crushed by their own weight. They only get this big because they're marine animals. They can't survive on land. They're too heavy. The increased gravity will kill them." Edwin said.
"They are mammals, though. That means that they cannot breathe underwater. They have to come up for air." Lenny said.
"They have blowholes atop their heads which they use to surface to breathe before going back under." Edwin said.
"Well, as long as they don't come onto land, I'm good with that." Lenny said.
"Yeah, you don't have much to worry about, buddy." Edwin said. "As long as you stay on the land and don't go into the water, you're the boss."
More staring at the whale in silence.
"You said there are lions that live on land? I'm guessing they look nothing like the ones that live at sea." Edwin said.
"You could say that. Yes." Lenny said.
Lenny came back the following morning only to find Edwin was gone, having presumably returned to Antarctica or wherever else. The elephant never did see his very interesting-looking friend again.