INDIAN ELEPHANTS

We love elephants. The first time we saw them was on a holiday in Kenya when we spent a night on an elephant reserve. Our tented chalet was next to a watering hole and at 5.00am we were sat on the veranda peering into the early morning mist. Now you might expect that you would hear an animal weighing over a ton approaching but not at all. The first we knew was when they emerged silently from the mist. They really are the most gracious of creatures albeit that this group of young bulls proceeded to run amok around our camp! Since then we have taken every opportunity to see them.

Of course there is a difference between the African and Indian elephant most notably their ears. The African’s skin is more wrinkled and their ears are much bigger reaching up and over their neck, whereas the Indian’s ears do not. If you look closely African ears are like a map of Africa and Indian ears are more like the shape of India. The African elephant is significantly larger too, and weighs more. They have fuller, more rounded heads with a single dome whereas Indian elephants have a twin-domed head with an indent in the centre.

All African elephants, male and female, have tusks, whereas only some male Indian elephants have tusks and these are generally smaller in size. Their trunk is also visibly less heavily ringed than the African and is harder enabling them to engage in heavy lifting tasks.

 

Over the course of our visits to Kerala we have seen captive elephants in wildlife sanctuaries. It must be hellishly boring being chained to heavy blocks or stumps all day except for a daily trip to the river or baths for a wash and brush up.

 

We have also seen working elephants, either walking to work or getting a lift on the back of a lorry. It makes you double take when you come up behind a lorry with a large elephant’s backside staring at you! At least they have some close human contact even if the person feeding them bananas thinks they need peeling first!

 But of course the best way to see any wildlife is running free in their natural surroundings.

The grace, majesty and gentleness with which they move is a sight to behold. However it cannot be forgotten that they are wild animals and every year a number of people are killed or injured from attacks by wild elephants.