Mother and Calf Elephant at Salt Lick in Bandipur

Here are a mother and calf elephant at a salt lick in Bandipur, during an evening jeep safari in Oct 2010. They were hardly bothered about us, unlike what the photo suggests. Subjects were about 15 m from our jeep, and the driver assured us they would hardly react. We spent some 20 min observing them. Elephants come to salt licks to make up for salt loss from their bodies.

Camera: Fujifilm S2000 HD, 15 X optical zoom
Exposure: Auto, Anti- Shake, Handheld with jeep engine off!
:001_smile:
Bye
Dr. Vijay

Normally elephants keep their distance and prefer to move into the forest if they feel the tourist vehicle is close or noisy. If you observe them from a distance and then slowly move closer, then they feel more comfortable. Some of the drivers are knowledgeable and are careful. I found one guy switching off the engine and slowly pushing the jeep though there were five of people in the jeep. He knew that the engine sound is not welcome to the ears of the elephant in musth.

The adolescent calf may be nervous and hence moved inside the forest. The mature elephants are more patient.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

It is good to know that the driver was aware of the elephant behaviour and chose to switch off the engine. That way we can observe the animal behaviour for a longer time. Wish you have clicked when they were at the salt lick. Thanks for sharing.

Nice image and good to know that the driver seemed knowledgeable in understanding the Elephant behavior.
tfs

Nice environ pic.TFS
Roopak