View allAll Photos Tagged Elephant
An old elephant in Koh Phangan, just after he nearly torn my arm with his trump. It was the first time i saw one of these huge animal, I was just excited like a child! But I think I won't forget his eyes...
African elephants are the species of elephants in the genus Loxodonta (Greek for 'oblique-sided tooth'[2]), one of the two existing genera in Elephantidae. Although it is commonly believed that the genus was named by Georges Cuvier in 1825, Cuvier spelled it Loxodonte. An anonymous author romanized the spelling to Loxodonta and the ICZN recognizes this as the proper authority.[1]
Fossil members of Loxodonta have only been found in Africa, where they developed in the middle Pliocene.
This little guy was thrashing from side to side on his knees and then Chip copied tried to copy him. See video on www.wildcast.net
The most thrilling event for me a couple of weeks ago was the discovery that the "temporary" fence in this section had finally been removed! Talk to any of the regulars, and i'd think you'd find that this was always their favourite spot at the elephant exhibit. But not when the temporary fence went up, keeping us further back (and the extra barriers made photography more difficult, and anyway the mudwallow here was allowed to dry up, and the drinks from the hose routine more or less stopped).
There were reasons for all the changes. But now the barrier is gone. The mudwallow here is being re-established, and the routine of the eles coming over to get a drink from the hose is starting up again. Yay!
Myself, i havent actually caught any of this mudwallow/hose action yet. I'm more likely to catch it in the afternoon. The eles and keepers are pretty much occupied in the mornings with their bath routines in the barn.
In this photo, there's keepers in this paddock, putting out food for the eles, so there's no eles in the area. Management of the elephants is now done with protected contact. Until a couple of months ago, as the eles were being trained for the changes required by protected contact management, the keepers could still go in with them when needed. And it meant that Thong Dee, Tang Mo and Luk could still be walked down to Gung's enclosure for his weekly visits from the girls. Mo has been much more cooperative with Gung on the last 2 occasions that she was in season. And Thong Dee is now up to the 5-year gap where they were looking to get her pregnant again, and she's Gung's favourite, and there's no problems when they get together. Sadly, neither of the girls is pregnant yet. And now that management is required to be fully protected contact, they can no longer be walked down to Gung. But never fear, they are getting a truck so they can travel there by truck.
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David Sheldrick Orphan Elephants, Nairobi, Kenya, Dec 2015
Elephants make amazing photo subjects especially in close up when you can capture their wrinkly skin.
Sand River
Kruger National Park
Elephant in Chobe National Park, Botswana
Blog: Dietmar Temps, travel photography
Website: Dietmar Temps, photography
Early morning light on Elephant Mountain north of Cave Creek in the Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area