John Drysdale, My Greatest Friend, 1986

Today is Elephant Appreciation Day, a reason—if ever one was needed—to celebrate our big-eared, long-nosed friends in all their oversized glory. This picture was taken by the Uganda-born photographer John Drysdale and features in his beloved photo-book, Our Peaceable Kingdom, a heartwarming ode to interspecies friendships. These range from llamas and Rhodesian Ridgebacks, to horses and Basset Hounds, to this young girl and the elephant with whom she was raised (who, Drysdale notes, was possessed of the “unusual ability to sit on his haunches”).