[Leica] Bullfight

[jayanand at gmail.com (Jayanand Govindaraj)]

One of the rare and unusual sights that we were privileged to see on
the trip to Ndutu was a serious dominance/territorial fight between
two bull elephants. The whole episode took place around 1.00 pm, so
the light was pretty hard. It took its time, with the two elephants,
the older one with half a tusk, and the younger one with two long
pristine tusks, facing each other, moving back and forth - I never
knew elephants could move backwards before this, and with such
complete surety at that! Suddenly, from time to time, one of them
would turn to a tree close by and rip off and break a trunk on the
tree:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/EAfrica/2014/Ndutu_20140309_1523.jpg.html

At some point after a lot of posturing, the younger one gave himself a
dust bath:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/EAfrica/2014/Ndutu_20140309_1536.jpg.html

This seemed to infuriate the elder, who wasted no time in joining battle:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/EAfrica/2014/Ndutu_20140309_1540.jpg.html

The fight was well and truly on, with the elder one using superior
strategy, power and strength:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/EAfrica/2014/Ndutu_20140309_1546.jpg.html

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/EAfrica/2014/Ndutu_20140309_1549.jpg.html

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/EAfrica/2014/Ndutu_20140309_1554.jpg.html

After a short and brutal fight, they disengaged:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/EAfrica/2014/Ndutu_20140309_1566.jpg.html

It was obvious that the elder had carried the day. After some more
posturing around a pond, the younger one lost his nerve and galloped
away, chased by the elder till he thought that the lesson had been
served. We were hoping that the winner would mount the loser, which is
the way bull elephants exhibit dominance, but no such luck!

Please see LARGE

Comments and criticism, as ever, most welcome

Cheers
Jayanand