Since 1986, Asian Elephants has been listed as endangered by IUCN as the population has declined by at least 50%. The key threats to Asian elephants today are loss, degradation and fragmentation of habitat, leading in turn to increasing conflicts between humans and elephants. They are poached for ivory and a variety of other products including meat and leather.
Spotted this tusker very close to the main road quietly grazing, he seemed calm and trumpeted only once, interestingly he provided us plenty of opportunities to photograph him at various angles. Surprisingly this image is shot with a telephoto lens, other images that I made are with shorter focal length to cover more of the habitat. I loved the tusks of this guy, very unusual to see them curved inward and touching each other. I always thought it will be uncomfortable for maneuvering the trunk, but these are the most intelligent animals and it was good to see him use the trunk at ease.
Camera – Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon f4 500mm lens
EXIF – ISO 800 Av 4 Tv 1/200 sec, Cropped for composition
Location - Rajiv Gandhi National Park, Nagarahole, Kabini
13th Oct'13
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