Male elephants leave their herds at an average age of 15 years - although we do know of one particular bull of the Trees-Herd that was still with his herd at the age of 20 years. Bulls come into musth annually once they reach maturity at approximately 25 years of age and during that period even placid elephants can become aggressive and hard to predict. On our field day we chanced across 2 bulls in musth. They displayed the typical behavioural signs including ear-waving, secretion of fluid from their temporal glands and the musth walk with head and ears held high above their shoulders. They were showing aggression towards everything in their path and they were annoyed with us so we departed fairly rapidly. Charlise of the “Hollywood Stars”- herd was on Klaserie Game Reserve. She was collared in 2006 on Balule and even though fences were dropped she took many years to cross the imaginary borders. Charlise is very protective of her herd and always displays the same behaviour when she comes into contact with humans. She gathers her herd around her and when you least expect it she and the herd cross the road in a mad dash. While waiting for the herd, two of the young bulls entertained us with a display of mock sparing. Cows usually have their first offspring at the average age of 12 years. We were privileged to see one young mother and her tiny baby cross the road close by ahead of the herd, although the streaming of fluid from her temporal glands indicated that she was distressed by our presence. We were very fortunate to see a variety of animals on this field day. The summer days are hot in the Limpopo province and while most animals found relief from the heat of the day in the shade of the dense Mopani veld, other fortunate animals that could, lay in mud baths or enjoyed relaxing in one of the many dams.
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 09:28:12 +0000
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