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The elephants are generally placid and do not mind the scores of noisy safari vehicles all around them. They do sometimes get a little angry and try to chase the odd car that gets too close, as we witnessed as well. (May/ June 2011)
The matriarch actually bluff charged at our safari car several times when she felt threatened, as soon as we pulled a little further away from the group she was fine
one lazy afternoon in north bengal hollong , we were resting in our forest lodge home , suddenly we saw this huge tusker grazing near the salt lick , we rushed with our cam , n he also obliged by giving sum gracefull pose , he was just about 20 feet away from us seperated by a thin stream of water ... amazing !!!!
Asian elephants with keepers at Whipsnade Zoo on 13th April 2012. Apparently the elephants are taken for a daily walk around the zoo, resulting in this rather surreal sight of elephants against the south Bedfordshire countryside.
This place is an elephant detention center where they capture elephants from wild and tame them to do tasks like dragging wood or a show piece for festivals.
Even though I am against this idea it was cool to watch so many elephants at one place.
African Bush Elephant (Loxodonta africana)
African elephants are the species of elephants in the genus Loxodonta, 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.
The African Bush Elephant is an intelligent animal. Experiments with reasoning and learning show that they are the smartest ungulates together with their Asian cousins. This is mostly due to their large brain.
Herds are made up of related females and their young, directed by the eldest female, called the matriarch. Infrequently, an adult male goes with them, but those usually leave the pack when reaching adolescence to form bachelor herds with other elephants of the same age. Later they lead a solitary life, approaching the female herds only during the mating season. Nevertheless, elephants do not get too far from their families and recognize them when re-encountered. Sometimes, several female herds can blend for a period of time, reaching even hundreds of individuals.
The matriarch is the one who decides the route and shows to each other member of the herd all the water sources she knows, which the rest will memorize in the future. The relations among the members of the herd is very tight; when a female gives birth to a baby the rest go to acknowledge it touching her with the trunk; and when an old elephant dies the rest of the herd will stay by the corpse for a while. The famous elephant graveyards are a myth, but it is true that these animals can recognize a carcass of its species when they find one during their trips, and even if it is a stranger, they form around it and sometimes they even touch its forehead with their trunk.
Mating happens when the female becomes receptive, an event that can occur anytime during the year. When she is ready, she starts emitting infrasounds that attract the males, sometimes from kilometers away. The adult males start arriving at the herd during the following days and begin fighting, causing some injuries and even broken tusks. The female shows her acceptance of the victor by rubbing her body against his. They mate, and then both go their own way. After 22 months of gestation (the longest among mammals), the female gives birth to a single 90 cm high calf which weighs more than 100 kg. The baby feeds on the mothers milk until the age of 5, but also eats solid food from as early as 6 months old. Just a few days after birth, the calf can follow the herd by foot.
Some African Bush Elephants will attack and kill rhinoceroses. This behavior, when it occurs, is mostly observed with younger adult male elephants who have come into musth prematurely.
African Bush Elephants are herbivorous. Their diet varies according to their habitat; elephants living in forests, partial deserts, and grasslands all eat different proportions of herbs and tree or shrubbery leaves. Elephants inhabiting the shores of Lake Kariba have been recorded eating underwater plant life.[6] In order to break down the plants they consume, the African Bush Elephant has four large molars, two in each mandible of the jaw. Each of these molars is 10 cm wide and 30 cm long. Over time, these molars are worn away and new ones are grown to replace them as the elephant ages. Around the age of 15 their milk teeth are replaced by new ones that last until the age of 30, and then by another set which wear off past the age of 40, being replaced by the last set of teeth that last approximately until the age of 65–70. Not much later, the animal dies of starvation from not being able to feed correctly. There are known cases of over 80 year old specimens in captivity.
These animals typically ingest an average of 225 kg of vegetable matter daily, which is defecated without being fully digested. That, combined with the long distances that they can cover daily in search of more food, contributes notably to the dispersion of many plant seeds that germinate in the middle of a nutrient-filled feces mound. Elephants rip apart all kind of plants, and knock down trees with the tusks if they are not able to reach the tree leaves. In some national parks there is overpopulation, so that managers of overpopulated parks often contact other parks with fewer specimens to transfer excess individuals.
Elephants also drink great quantities of water, over 190 liters per day.
Wild Animal Park Escondido Ca
These elephants were feeding on young trees & shrubs, flattening the thorns with their feet and then devouring branches whole.
The Elephant Nature Park was created by a thai woman called Lek back in the 90’s after she grew tired of watching the elephants dissapearing.She started out with 4 elephants that she bought from local logging companies, and found a piece of land that the elephants could live on.Check out my travelblog at
Our elephant ride through the jungle from the Mae Ping Elephant Village north of Chiang Mai was an unforgettable experience!.
The opportunity to mingle with the elephants was incredible, one might expect to be unnerved by having such huge creatures wandering alongside but it was easy to feel relaxed amongst them, and one soon got used to being 'investigated' by various probing trunks!
The opportunity to ride them was also unforgettable, with a few of us choosing to mount an elephant bareback (the hardest part for me was getting on and off, I felt bad about standing on the elephant's leg to climb on to her back!).
Later there was a performance highlighting the elephant's dexterity followed by a ride through the nearby river and jungle. All in all a wonderful memory to cherish!
Video footage taken at the same venue:-
From the archive: Okavango Delta, Botswana.
Use of this image on websites, blogs or any other media is only allowed with the explicit written permission of the photographer.
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Painted elephants, it the grounds of Mysore Palace, during the Dasara celebrations. More photographs by Stuart Forster can be viewed at www.whyeyephotography.com.
Indian Elephant-having some family time.
Clicked at : Vandalur Zoo
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elephant in black & white
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Sister Elsie told us she would take us to see elephants today. Originally I had thought we would be going to some sort of game park or something. Instead, we went to see the elephants that were going to be taking part in a Hindu festival this evening. Unfortunately, we would be leaving later tonight, so we would not get to see them all decorated for the festival.
DATE TAKEN:
Wednesday, January 12th, 2011
LOCATION:
Kochi, Kerala, India
The Elephant Nature Park was created by a thai woman called Lek back in the 90’s after she grew tired of watching the elephants dissapearing.She started out with 4 elephants that she bought from local logging companies, and found a piece of land that the elephants could live on.Check out my travelblog at