Bandipur Makhna

[Anton Dsilva]

Fuji X100 : 23mm Single Focus Lens
F2, 1/60, ISO100
Cropped to push subject to right

We encountered this large male with small tusks during the evening safari. He seemed to be in good mood that day and went about as if we did not exist.

[Suraj Sreedhar]

Its not a Makhna.
Makhnas are male elephants without tusks.
What u have shot is a young tusker.

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Nice habitat shot.

Suraj Bhai has correctly pointed out that it is NOT a Makhna,but a young Tusker.
Tuskless Male Indian elephants are called "Makhnas".In NE India they may be as dangerous as a rouge tusker,while they are normally docile in South India.Mother Nature usually compensate the lack of tusk in Makhnas by giving them greater strength of Neck,Head and Trunk.Thanks for sharing.SaktiWild

P.S: I record my indebtedness to E.P.Gee (views on the Elephants of NE India) and also R.C.Morris( views on the Elephants of South India quoted by E.P.Gee)

[Bibhav Behera]

Nice view. I would have liked a bit more space on the right and bottom.

Is it the angle or does the trunk actually look longer than usual?

Thanks for sharing.

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

As I see it, the length of the trunk is normal ,no optical illusion.If we look at the curvature of the back of the elephant in its present pose ,it has lowered its head and neck down in search of fodder.Even when the back is horizontal, the length of the trunk enables it to feed freely the fodder on the ground .SaktiWild

[Anton Dsilva]

Refer to these two images for better idea on trunk length-especially the second one. It did look long to me.

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[Sabyasachi Patra]

Elephants don't need to bend to pick up grass using their trunks.

The length of the trunk is normal. And the perspective is as expected from a wideangle lens shot upclose.

[Anton Dsilva]

I don't mean to contradict the previous posts that this is not a makhna-I'm no expert on elephants. However just a healthy debate to get the facts right. When I spotted this elephant, It was quite large. The temples are depressed unlike a young tusker. Basavanna, the naturalist from JLR told me that it is a Makhna and told me about Makhnas. When I did some googling, I did read that Makhna's can be without tusks or with smaller tusks called tushes.