EN/SC/003/1/14-15
Elephant Warning Signs Warning signs to look for with elephant : 1. The ears are held forward and the head is held high. 2. If an elephant is skittish, rather leave it be, as elephants in this state of mind can turn on you very easily without much provocation. 3. Be very careful of cows with their calves. The females are normally the more aggressive of the sexes, and are extremely protective of their calves. 4. Take note of an elephant that is standing very still. 5. Be careful of an elephant that thrashes the bush and then turns to look at you with ears forward. 6. Trunk is raised to get your scent. 7. The shaking of its head is normally a sign of annoyance but can be meaningless. This is not a hard and fast rule. 8. There is trumpeting and lowering of the head several times in succession and in your direction. 9. The animal lowers the head with the trunk curled up the side of the face, growling and/or squealing. If an elephant starts to charge in this fashion one must anticipate a very serious charge. There will be times when a female will give no warning at all that she intends to charge. The bulls will generally give a mock charge and make an exhibition of the charge, but seldom carry it through. On some occasions, however, they will charge. A cow on the other hand will more than likely carry through on the charge. Cows have been known to charge vehicles for a couple of kilometres. Be especially wary of a mature male in musth. This is a state of heightened sexuality with the animal searching for a mate, and younger outcompeted males will become increasingly frustrated and hostile. Glands just in front of the animal’s ears will be exuding fluid and the animal will be dribbling urine constantly. AVOID AN ELEPHANT IN THIS STATE. Specifically when dealing with elephant, avoiding a dangerous situation is far preferable to dealing with a potentially fatal encounter. Not only can you NOT outrun these immensely intelligent pachyderms, but getting into a vehicle or climbing a tree may not extract you from danger. There are several accounts of exceedingly aggravated elephant turning vehicles and pushing them into dams. People have also been shaken out of trees or had the trees they were in knocked down from under them. These cases are extremely rare but do occur when encounters are handled very badly.
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