The most feared animal in the Indian forests - a bull elephant in musth - totally unpredictable and known to charge at the slightest irritation. Bulls in musth are more aggressive probably as a result of higher levels of testosterone, and most other males will avoid a musth bull. Such bulls encountering each other with the herd may sometimes fight to the death. And because of all these fights, these elephants are easily irritated by anything - from trees to humans to cars to even other wild animals.

Notice the secretions from the temporal glands which signifies the musth condition. As soon as we saw this tusker, we stopped at a distance more than we usually do for other elephants. This guy then looked at us, twisted his tale and spread his ears out - signs that he could charge, but then decided that we were harmless and let us be. I was impressed by this guy, he walked right past us within about 30 feet and crossed the road and went on his way. If you notice in the second picture, his tail is chopped off - probably in a fight with another elephant.

This guy is a magnificient specimen of the great Indian tusker with beautifully curved tusks and a very nice standing posture.



cropped image.