Little Step with Mother

[Sucheth Lingachar]

This was Shot at Bandipur.
Nikon D3100, Nikkor 55 - 300 VR,
F/8,1/250s,ISO 320, 220mm

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Nice learning moment captured. Little one, move forward step by step.Thanks for sharing.SaktiWild

P.S.:Why most of the elephants photographed in Bandipur, look older than their actual age.Is stress factor as in Sariska working because of tourist flow from Bangalore!

[Mrudul Godbole]

Nice interaction captured. The eye contact of both the mother and cub is nice. Did you try a horizontal composition?

Saktipadaji, I agree there is lot of tourist pressure in Bandipur, as lot of tourist visit Ooty and the road passes through the forest. We have seen the elephants facing a lot of problems while crossing the roads.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Apart from stress due to tourists/vehicles Food and water are the other issues. The amount of fresh grass is less due to the invasives. They also eat a variety of vegetation, bark of trees etc, and it is difficult to get.

Elephants need good quality water to drink. They are especially suspect to diarhoea and die. Give them fresh water streams with good quality water, and you will see their health.

[Murugan Anantharaman]

Nice image of the mother with the cute little one. Its always a pleasure looking at elephants. They have a natural calmness in the way they look. I guess this is one major reason why people think of elephants to be human friendly. They are just like any other wild animal, give them their space and they will be fine.

Unfortunately the common man does not understand that. Hence the contaminated water, human intervention etc taking a toll on them. I have also noticed the boil like spots on the elephants body photographed by many. What are these, can anyone enlighten?