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Pilanesberg Bull in musth


Pilanesberg Bull in musth
Photo Information
Copyright: Jan Hendrik van Rooyen (janhendrik) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 378 W: 65 N: 685] (2382)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2005-12-18
Categories: Mammals
Camera: Canon 20D, Canon EF 100-400mm L IS USM
Exposure: f/10.0, 1/400 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2006-01-29 15:57
Viewed: 1526
Points: 26
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
African Elephant ( Loxodonta Africana )

I’m sure that a lot has been said about the African Elephant. This bull is clearly in musth, as can be seen from the secretion out of the gland behind the eye, as well as the urine dripping from its penis.

I’ll tell you a bit of what I know about the Pilanesberg Elephants.

In the 1970’s or 1980’s the Pilanesberg game reserve was created. It is 50 000 hectares, and is situated in an extinct volcano. There were no elephants, or any large game, for that matter. At that stage the culling program in the Kruger National Park was still in full swing, and conservation authorities decided not to cull very young elephants, and to use those to populate other places, in this case Pilanesberg. I think it was wrong to relocate small elephants alone without adults. Luckily the conservation authorities came to their senses, and in later years they stopped relocating elephants in this way. They then started relocating whole family units, adults included.

In the 1980’s (if my memory serves me right, but I stand to be corrected) these very young elephants were introduced into the Pilanesberg game reserve. These elephants were growing up without adult elephants, and because they received no discipline, they were “ill mannered” and dangerous. Quite a few cases were reported where rogue young bulls killed off rhino without reason. This was thuggery in the Animal Kingdom. In the absence of adult bulls, the young bulls were coming into musth at a much earlier age than what is usual. They were also staying in musth for unusual long periods of time. Musth is a “state of heightened sexual awareness” where a bull is very aggressive.

To try and remedy an unbalanced situation created by man, conservation officials decided to introduce six large Kruger bulls, so that the juvenile bulls would no longer be at the top of the hierarchy.

The bulls were introduced to Pilanesberg from Kruger Park in February and March 1998. The objective was to suppress the musth behaviour of the young "orphan" males in Pilanesberg.

There were some fights between the introduced bulls and the resident bulls. There was also some fighting amongst the introduced bulls.

Although the musth of the young Pilanesberg orphans has not been completely suppressed, there have been no extensive periods of musth. Up to date, there have been no rhino deaths since the introduction of the Kruger elephants. On that note, the project has been a resounding success!

In the longer term, the success of the project still does not seem conclusive, but at this stage it does seem to have been at least partly successful.

I'm not sure if this is one of the original bulls, or one of the introduced Kruger bulls.
Janice, manyee, soccer, dew77, PDP, Dee_eS, tinman, vanderschelden, pablominto has marked this note useful
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Critiques [Translate]

  • Great 
  • SkyF Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2390 W: 194 N: 1991] (8113)
  • [2006-01-29 16:05]

Must be amazing seeing thoses animals in the wild. Great shot wonderful sharp details.
SkyF

  • Great 
  • Janice Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3446 W: 144 N: 5881] (17425)
  • [2006-01-29 23:56]

Hi Jan, great capture of the elephant and also the white bird at his feet. And what interesting notes to read too. He's a big fellow isn't he. Excellent composition. TFS.
Janice

Very good textures and natural colours. Great POV and composition.

Well done

  • Great 
  • manyee Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3069 W: 231 N: 5857] (19698)
  • [2006-01-30 2:17]

Very sharp shot of this beautiful bull elephant, and very interesting and informative note. Thanks for sharing. : )

Hi Jan,
Excellent capture!
Very sharp and detailed, great colour.
Thanks for sharing!

Very sharp image, showing all the detail and wrinkles of the Elephant. I like the detail etc along with the Composition. Well Done, Sheriff

  • Great 
  • dew77 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 5171 W: 297 N: 4050] (13069)
  • [2006-01-30 8:59]

Hello Jan!
Very nice capture.POV,sharpness,details,
framing and composition are wonderful.
TFS...:-)

  • Great 
  • PDP Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2964 W: 366 N: 3848] (11755)
  • [2006-01-30 17:51]

Hi Jan, impressive beasts aren't they! This is a nice shot, gives a real sense of presence. Good work, well done.

Great shot but even better comment.

Thanks

Seb

Super post and great note, well done

Hello Jan Hendrik...
Good photography in general. I like your gallery. You are lucky to have wildlife almost in your garden:-).
The notes are also very interesting. Could be a writer too..;-)
TFS
Annick Vanderschelden

Hello Jan,
An excellent image of the big guy!
The image is well framed, and the beast is captured with great textures and great details...
Existing lighting is well used, making the animal really stand out in an almost 3D effect on the blurry background!
Greetings,
Pablo -

  • Great 
  • Scott Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 213 W: 0 N: 298] (1398)
  • [2006-09-20 17:13]

Jan,

Dit is Lekker, remind me to visit SA soon. What a shot .. Well taken and well shown ..

tfs
scott

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