Musth We Talk About Elephants

I know. You’re looking at that title and wondering why I have an extra letter. Well, while on Safari, I learned a new word…musth. Musth is when a male elephant becomes extra aggressive. They are hard to contain, and many of the other elephants don’t particularly enjoy the show. However, due to the release of temporin from the temporal glands and urine trickling down their back legs, the elephant in musth is quite evident. There is an increase in testosterone during musth, and though the purpose isn’t just for mating, musth can help out in the “romance” department–albeit a little aggresively.

On one of our evenings out and about we witnessed an elephant in musth. There was another elephant that was trying to subdue it. We stayed a healthy distance from the elephants and watched a few trees getting torn down, and some intense interactions between two elephants.

In addition, another Safari vehicle came along. They were looking for a nice place to have tea. At first the driver thought all was well, and everyone in the vehicle got out to stretch their legs. Scotty (our guide) was flashing lights at them in warning. The guide didn’t notice our lights and continued talking with the Safari while pointing out the two elephants. Thankfully, within minutes the other guide realized what was happening and knew this was not the safest place for tea. It was, however, a great place to watch two elephants–one trying to subdue, and the other going through musth.

I didn’t film too much of the excitement. We had a little dirt throwing and posturing, but after this short clip, the elephant on the left took down a small tree. There was a third elephant who happened upon the scene, but when he realized what was happening, he left.

We saw a plethora of elephants at the beginning of our Safari. Sometimes we would be driving on the road, and the elephants would be eating off of the trees on either side of us. Other times, the elephants would be standing in our way. Scotty would always shut off the vehicle, and give us a chance to watch. After all, they were pretty large, and elephants aren’t the most predictable animals in the Safari. We valued having a vehicle, so we did our best to stay away.

Several observations included the babies. They always seemed curious about us. One started toward our vehicle before getting the call to return to mom. In addition, the babies seemed to be shielded by the older elephants. If the herd was in our path, the adults would position themselves, so they were exposed to us, but the babies were not. The babies had some energy, but they always had someone around to keep them in check.

Scotty always laughed when seeing elephants, and he never knew exactly what they would do. Sometimes, they’d just tear out a tree for no apparent reason. Other times they would just stay in the road seemingly to keep us from moving forward. On the day where we witnessed lions and the cheetahs, we saw an elephant stampede. The elephants knew they had to get away from the lions, so they were on a mad dash. Some were trumpeting to the group, and others were just mad they had to move on. Those were the ones knocking over trees. We were at a safe distance, but witnessing the elephants in stampede was exciting.

Soon I’ll be writing about our boat adventure, but I decided to add the video I took then of the elephants. It was quite a peaceful scene. The elephants and babies came to shore looking to quench their thirst. As many times as I had seen elephants on this trip, I really enjoyed this the best. Elephants in their natural habitat is something everyone should get to see.

Below are some more photos of elephants on Safari.