Sanctuary Asia — January 2018

The March of the Elephants

Sanctuary | Conservation Action

By Vivek Menon

Elephants have a way of walking that displays their

incipient mood. They tramp through bamboo culms seeking

tender relishes hidden amidst tangled clumps. They amble

through lush grasslands, kicking a tuft every now and then,

after the fi rst monsoon rains have ensured a new carpet for

them to feed on. A family group seems to saunter when at

peace. A lone bull in musth, testosterone staining his face,

strides up to his choice female with a rather more determined

gait. Once his courtship is accepted, the two promenade

languorously in between bouts of mating.

The family’s gait changes when they are about to start a

long journey from one habitat to another. The stroll now picks

up pace as they troop in single fi le. The ramble turns to a

heavy defi nitive trudge as they shift home and hearth for the

season. As the journey enters human habitation, they tiptoe,

swallowing air and sniffi ng at unknown menacing scents. They

feel their way around obstacles, like a toddler moving around

the fear of new and unknown playthings.

As the family crosses a road or a rail track there is a

tentative air to the walk. The matriarch stops, then treads

in slow, measured steps, watching and sensing movements

and threats before venturing onto tar. The herd follows her

instinctively and when the coast is clear and the matriarch

has crossed, the family stumbles across in a sudden rush of

frenzy. The rush lasts only till the cool earth on the other

side is felt under their spongy pads. Almost instantly they

slow, and if there is no threat, a little bit of comfort-feeding

replaces the panic of a moment ago.

But all this changes during confl ict. As mobs chase the

elephants, they break into a trot, a heavy lumbering run, heads

bowed and bodies pressing against each other for comfort and

to present a unifi ed whole to the threat. If the threat persists

and when projectiles or burning tyres touch their bodies,

the air is rent by anguished trumpets and screams. The pace

quickens and every now and then an anointed member of the

herd turns back in a mock charge to move the threat away. As

time passes the elephants start moving in an agitated, kinetic

fashion. During full-blown riots they lose even the cohesion of

kith and kin as they stumble in a mad dash towards what little

safety a neighbouring patch of scrub may have to off er.

SABEER MAMPAD/ENTR

Y–SANCTUARY WILDLIFE PHO

TOGRAPHY AW

ARDS

2017