Elephas Maximus

It had always been my desire to photograph wild elephants in jungle since a long time. Though elephants sighting are reported to be comparatively scarce in month of october in yala,yet I had a wonderful rendezvous with a family of elephants and also some solitary bull elephants. The experience of witnessing the behavior of these elephants was truly enchanting and unforgettable.

 

 This bull elephant came to quench his thirst in water body and showed some amazingly slow movements.It would take one feet forward, stop abruptly, again its other foot forward , cling to tree trunk nearby and wait. In between he would dust itself to protect its skin from extreme heat.

 This elephant waited at the same spot for almost forty five minutes before it ventured into the forest shadows. Having observed this elephant's sluggish movements made me feel that this particular bull elephant was extra lazy, but totally carefree as if it had no deadlines to maintain and no stress to encounter.......

In the late afternoon we sighted a family of elephant who were fiddling, eating and may be shaping their young one for the future....

As we moved into other part of the forests in a hope to sight leopards, we lost the track of this particular family. Since elephants normally keep moving ,we again had a sighting of an elephant family may be the same as above or a different set, but as usual it was totally overwhelming to make pictures out of them in diffused evening light and against backdrop of famous elephant rock in yala.....

The camaraderie that the elephant family shows and the way they connect with their young ones just heart touching. Nature always has amazed human beings and taught it some lessons, this one is surely one of it. No other mammal that I've seen displays emotions so splendidly....

Its very interesting to observe how the elephant teaches its young one to relish food and how it has to be plucked and devoured. Elephant normally kicks its feet into grass, loosens the grass' grip in soil and plucks it.....

Even more awe inspiring thing is to observe the herd move, as depicted in one of the pics above, most elephants have the same formation having young ones walking in middle with their baby feet alongside mammoth elephants. Also Elephants are very aggressive in herd specially those who have young ones. It would not be a surprise if elephant charges towards your vehicle or trumpets loudly as elephants get very temperamental since they are protective towards young ones....

one more behavioral habits that elephants shows is the dust bathing. There are many reasons to why they do it viz to create a protective layer on body for protection from insects or cooling their skins etc, but it certainly is a sight to capture.

Amongst the best things to observe in elephants is to watch them run. Its a fact that elephants can run quite fast with respect to their size. There is only one way to describe the running of elephant - Cute. of course if you are not standing in their way. Mammoth guys running parallel to your eyesight , trumpeting and wobbling around is a sight to watch for....

Elephants, are certainly one of those species who have fascinated the mankind since ages, both due to their size and intelligence. I was lucky enough in yala to observe a chunk of their behavior right from the morning to late evenings. I observed them stranded besides a tree trunk and also running around.I observed them solitary and in herds.Certainly a trip to remember and moments to cherish for a long long time.........