Elephant awaiting extra-long tusk trimming

An elephant Vallabhan purchased from Palakkad in2002 by local residents and gifted to Malayinkeezhy Sreekrishnaswamy temple in Kerala, south India, neither able to take food nor hold his head high literally after the tusks grew heavier and 1.5m extra-long. He is awaiting tusk trimming.

The 26-year-old elephant while lying down, the tusks rub against the ground causing difficulties. Although the action was initiated to trim the tusks in February 2019 was stopped as the elephant was on musth, a condition usually experience when they are about 30 years of age,  a periodic condition among bull (male) elephants characterised by highly aggressive behaviour and accompanied by a large rise in reproductive hormones and an honest form of advertising of a male’s sexual availability and condition. The Testosterone levels in an elephant in musth can be on average 60 times greater than in the same elephant at other times.

There is no question that male elephants can be aggressive, hormone-driven killers, but they can also have friendships, and be bother leaders and patient teachers. Many mammals segregate by sex, with males and females occupying different ranges for at least part of the year.