Elephant dance

[Sabyasachi Patra]

I guess the elephant was showing me that she is young enough to dance.

Canon EOS 1D Mark II, Canon EF 28-135 f3.5-5.6 IS USM, ISO 400, 135mm, f6.3, 1/160 sec. Full frame image.

Look forward to your comments.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[AB Apana]

Where was this shot? I'm also curious about the glandular secretion of the other one. Is it a male?

Apana

[Sabyasachi Patra]

This was in Bandipur. It is a male. They were in a herd of three.

[Kiran Ghadge]

thats nice image, would have loved more wide angle view.....

[Mohammed Raheel]

Where was this shot? I'm also curious about the glandular secretion of the other one. Is it a male?

Apana

The Glandular secretion,,,,,,,,
Is it at the time when hormones flow in the male?
Also called in being in a state of MAST ?

[Mrudul Godbole]

Nice action captured. The male facing you would have added to the composition further.

[Vikram Nanjappa]

The elephant with the glandular secretion looks like a female ( you can see the tushes - those are not the tusks of a male , a male of that size would have larger/ longer tusks).Please post a another photograph of the same individual if you can. In the African Elephant both male and female are known to come into musth. Musth in the female Asian Elephant is rare but not unknown.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Vikram,
I had checked that after posting the photo here. That is a female. I think she is probably pregnant. Looking at the size of her belly, it looks different than the others. And the male was also checking her. Will post the shots later.
Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Vikram Nanjappa]

In one of the recorded instances of musth in female Asian elephants , the female was found to be in a pronounced state of estrous, this was a captive elephant so it was easy to ascertain.Not so easy to ascertain in the wild.