Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2014/03/24
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Great series, I shall post a couple I took with my next post. It was one of the best experiences I've had "in the wild" and equaled the day we saw the Orcas taking the seals in Antarctica > On March 24, 2014 at 2:40 PM Jayanand Govindaraj <jayanand at gmail.com> > wrote: > > > 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 > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information