Junior Elephants
There is a great deal of jockeying for dominance amongst elephants that is revealed only by close observation. For whatever reason, elephants are constantly pairing off against one another to establish dominance. If there are a hundred elephants in a herd, I'm sure there would be an "argument" between the weakest two as to who was # 99 and who was # 100. The most dominant elephant is the one that gets the first dibs at the watering hole, for instance.
Here, at first sight, it simply looks like a couple of elephant calves engaged in small talk en route to the watering hole. But take a closer look – the calf closer to the camera is slightly older, perhaps by a couple of months. It is a bit taller and bigger, notwithstanding the camera perspective. Its body language is more aggressive, with its ears flared out, which is a way elephants posture to look bigger than they are.
The other calf has a meeker posture, with its ears folded to its side. Though they are walking side by side, the smaller calf will let the bigger calf dip into the water first at the water hole, finding another spot for itself that keeps a respectable distance from the older calf.
Tsavo National Park, Kenya.
D01-0242-5DS04300
Junior Elephants
There is a great deal of jockeying for dominance amongst elephants that is revealed only by close observation. For whatever reason, elephants are constantly pairing off against one another to establish dominance. If there are a hundred elephants in a herd, I'm sure there would be an "argument" between the weakest two as to who was # 99 and who was # 100. The most dominant elephant is the one that gets the first dibs at the watering hole, for instance.
Here, at first sight, it simply looks like a couple of elephant calves engaged in small talk en route to the watering hole. But take a closer look – the calf closer to the camera is slightly older, perhaps by a couple of months. It is a bit taller and bigger, notwithstanding the camera perspective. Its body language is more aggressive, with its ears flared out, which is a way elephants posture to look bigger than they are.
The other calf has a meeker posture, with its ears folded to its side. Though they are walking side by side, the smaller calf will let the bigger calf dip into the water first at the water hole, finding another spot for itself that keeps a respectable distance from the older calf.
Tsavo National Park, Kenya.
D01-0242-5DS04300