Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2014/03/24
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hey Jayanand, Wow! Looks like you all had a heckuva trip! The shots of the elephants by you and Alastair are fascinating, and the fight must?ve been incredible to see. Congrats on some great shots and glad you had such a great time! cheers, craig On Mar 24, 2014, at 8:38 PM, lug-request at leica-users.org wrote: > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jayanand Govindaraj" <jayanand at gmail.com> > To: "Leica Users Group" <lug at leica-users.org>; "PSM" > <psm-1857 at googlegroups.com> > Sent: Monday, March 24, 2014 7:40 PM > Subject: [Leica] Bullfight > > >> 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