The Elephant Mating Game Part - 2

[AB Apana]

Hi Vikram,

An interesting post. Many have stated that the number of smaller elephants sporting tusks has increased since the last days of Veerappan. Since you have been at Kabini for an extended period, do you find any veracity in this observation?

Apana

[Vikram Nanjappa]

No , I have not noticed an increase in the number of young tuskers , or adult tuskers for that matter ,in Kabini after Veerapan's death. He was not active in this area.

[Ranbir Mahapatra]

Thanks Vikram for this erudite article on elephant mating behaviour.

Your tail piece does merit consideration, as I feel a good understanding of animal behaviour is important for the wildlife lover and photographer to treasure nature better. Hence forming a section on animal behaviour is the need of the hour. I would definitely look forward to a section where members can share their take on known / unique animal behaviour. Supporting images would be welcome too. Needless to say, animal behaviour needs to be seen as a part of a larger picture and not through a narrow prism.

A classic example is the tiger’s ritual of cleanly disembowelling its prey, disposing it off in some distance, covering it, dragging the prey (sometimes for kms together) before feasting on it. Talk about neatness in the animal species!! We can describe this behaviour. But if we also talk about the vultures or other scavengers (in that immediate ecosystem) and their behaviour / reaction to this , that would be great.

I am sure that the members would love to watch out for these signs and behaviour while appreciating the wild. And photographers would love to adjust their equipment to capture the perfect moment. Afterall, its that golden second that makes the picture worth a million dollar!

Coming back to your article, I am truly fascinated by presence or evolution (is it mutation??) of the makhanas in context to Asian elephant population. In the mating game ritual size, bravado and beauty does count. You mentioned two excellent examples, the antlers and the plumes of most male birds.

Hence the question: why don't the makhanas have tusks? I concur with you...We can’t give Veerapan the credit of expediting Mother Nature's work of evolution!

Perhaps Makhanas are a genetic mutation. Interesting examples are the white lions of Africa. Their color does not seriously impair the lions survival in the wild. But the million dollar question is: what advantage does the makhanas have over his tusked counterpart?

Here, we might take the help of simple statistics. With the rampant culling of males with tuskers, perhaps males without tusk became a much more "suitable & available mate" for the females.

Kudos Vikram. We would love to see more such articles from you. It would be great too if you could post record shots along with the article.