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Elephants At Play


Elephants At Play
Photo Information
Copyright: Anna Eksteen (Miss_Piggy) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 2285 W: 5 N: 5300] (18714)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2011-10-03
Categories: Mammals
Camera: Sony Cybershot DSC HX1, Sony G lens 20x Optical zoom, Digital ISO 400
Exposure: f/4, 1/400 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): Animals' Behavior, part one [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2013-08-16 23:59
Viewed: 4113
Favorites: 2 [view]
Points: 56
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
African Elephant / Loxodonta africana

It is always great to witness interaction between wild animals whether they are playing, bonding, feeding one another or fighting. It makes nature comes alive in front of your eyes and adds excitement to the time it lasts. This image was taken in the Addo Elephant National Park during our 2011 Cape Province holiday.

Since there are more than enough information about elephants on the site, I decided to share something about their interaction with one another.

WHAT DO ELEPHANTS DO FOR FUN?
Elephants are the largest land animals on Earth, and they love to engage in big fun. Elephants can live 60 to 70 years, and they develop deep and remarkably close bonds with their families. With a lifespan that long and close social ties, this means lots of time for fun and closeness. Just like people, elephants love to engage in good old-fashioned play.

Mud Baths
Mud baths are an all-time favourite of elephants. They not only romp and play with their friends in mud baths, they also enjoy the cooling sensation and relief that mud provides from the very hot temperatures of Africa and Asia, their native homelands. Elephants in captivity also enjoy mud baths and can be seen giving their friends a helpful shove and rolling around to play in the mud.

Socializing
Elephants enjoy socializing with one another, as they are highly intelligent and social animals. Elephants are often seen caressing one another. They enjoy entwining trunks as if to say hello or offer a tender hug. Biologists believe that trunks may be used to greet other elephants because, through them, they can also smell the other elephant and find out more about them.

Water Games
Elephants appreciate cooling off in bodies of water and may enjoy a good romp in the water with their pals. Elephants are strong swimmers, so being in the water is not unfamiliar to them. In the water, they can enjoy cooling down while "wrestling" with their friends and members of their herd. An elephant's ears also work to cool their bodies down in the heat. Elephants can be seen flapping their ears - this works as a built-in cooling mechanism.

Football and Fun with Friends
Elephants in captivity have often been seen playing with toys that are provided to them, such as soccer balls and large beach balls. They enjoy batting the ball around with their trunks. This can prove to be hours of fun. From a young age, elephant calves enjoy running around with their friends. Literally from their calf hoods, they start down the path of forming deep bonds that will last a lifetime. Source

I hope you enjoy looking at this photo as much as I took pleasure in taking it.
aruntp, oldferret, Hotelcalifornia, PeterZ, ramthakur, CeltickRanger, arindammitra89, marius-secan, Ingrid1, anel, Alex99, jrobertop, amanengone, Adanac has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To terri: ThanksMiss_Piggy 1 08-22 03:56
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Critiques [Translate]

really excellent wildlife image of Elephants. No doubt this is really a brave attempt. good to see.

HI Anna Eksteen
照的很清晰 這種鏡頭也是希有的
兩隻大象在打架 象也很清晰 肌肉緊繃可見紋路
構圖美麗 背景也很漂亮 謝謝分享
STONE

Hi Anna,

A very nice shot of these to elephants at play, nice colour and details. The notes are very good. It has good overall colour and tone I notice that it is cloudy, which helps keep the harshness of the bright sun and deep shadows at bay.

Thanks for sharing

Regards Bill.

Hello Anna,
Beautiful photograph of these two Elephants.Symbol of Brotherhood.Nice natural colour all over with splendid green in BG.
Thanks for sharing,
Kind regards,
Srikumar

  • Great 
  • siggi Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3097 W: 109 N: 12399] (52850)
  • [2013-08-17 3:45]

Hello Anna.
What a wonderful moment captured.The pose is beautiful.Excellent composition with spot on focus.The lighting and colours are well handled.Great job on the POV and DOF.
Regards Siggi

  • Great 
  • foozi Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 2791 W: 0 N: 6696] (25839)
  • [2013-08-17 3:52]

Hello Anna
lovely and exciting capture of these elephant in their special action.
The view is so pleasant and the details of the textured skin is well composed.

Regards
Foozi

  • Great 
  • PeterZ Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 5137 W: 166 N: 13121] (49139)
  • [2013-08-17 4:30]

Hello Anna,
Great moment! Beautiful photo in warm, nice contrasting colours and excellent sharpness. Taken from the best POV. A beauty!
Regards,
Peter

Adorable capture of these Elephants from your archives, Anna.
That they are merely at play comes through strongly via their placid and non-threatening expressions and body postures.
The quiet and peaceful ambience of a cloudy day also adds to the appeal of this wonderful picture.
Best regards.
Ram

Hello Anna.
What nice moment you captured.
beautiful.
perfect angle with good colour and sharpness.
best wishes,
samiran

hallo Anna
this is super!!
i like this picture with the big boys
great details nice light and beautiful naturel colours
thanks Anna
greeting lou

  • Great 
  • Cobo Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 236 W: 1 N: 535] (5799)
  • [2013-08-17 9:32]

What a great picture and moment you got Anna. Fantastic the picture and the moment. Congratulation and thank you for sharing it. Saludos.

  • Great 
  • lousat Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 6595 W: 89 N: 15659] (65489)
  • [2013-08-17 15:56]

Hi Anna,you caught very well this nice and rare opportunity,a magnificet pic whit an imposing perspective and the best quality as possible,very very well done,i like it!Have a nice Sunday and thanks,Luciano

Hello Anna

Excellent photo of these Elephants in playing action,
great focus, sharpness, and details, you was
the best place the best time for this scenery, TFS

Asbed

Hi Anna,
Sorry for late comment..I missed this beautiful wildlife photography.I love elephant and I wish one day I can capture this kind of beautiful moment.
What a beautiful moment perfect timing and composition.
Great natural color and details.Nice point of view.
Thank you for sharing this pic.

Arindam

Hello Anne,
Thanks for visiting my gallery. I was busy in the last days, no much time for TN....
Once again a wonderful photo taken from a very good angle and POV. Exceptional quality....Excellent details. Outstanding colors and perfect focus. Amazing shoot....
Thanks for sharing!
Marius.

Dear Anna
I am pleased, this theme gave your memory a jolt, and you remembered this excellent action photo in your archives.

I wish I knew, what they were actually expressing? "I like you?" - "I don't like you".....

I like the layout of your photo, the way you framed the two elephants.

How long did you actually watch them? Was the moment shown in the image the beginning or the end of the interaction? It is the sort of photo making me wish I was there. :-)

It is truly interesting to observe and compare the different shades of mud one sees in different Elephant photos. The elephants in this photo are more on the Red side, which seems to stain the skin longer... Clay? Matching the soil in the foreground.

Thanks my dear friend for adding your interesting work to my theme "Animals' Behaviour"

Take care,
Hugs
Ingrid

Hello Anna
A superb photo and an excellent moment to photograph. Good point of view and composition, excellent detail. Very nice to see.
regards yiannis

  • Great 
  • anel Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 3053 W: 3 N: 8715] (40574)
  • [2013-08-22 0:18]

Hello Anna,
Eleohants are really interesting creatures and if we observe them we can recognize the great intelligence described in your note (even in the zoo)
Lovely scene taken in the wild, just too cute how they are tender in their relationship :-). Well shown with this almost square framing and with best sharpness.
Take care
Anne

  • Great 
  • terri (0)
  • [2013-08-22 3:14]
  • [+]

Hi Anna,
Wow, that's a really sweet photo. Your composition is spot on. The Lighting is also very well managed. Hope to post some of my own photos soon.
Regards
Terri

  • Great 
  • Alex99 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 4072 W: 133 N: 7096] (23735)
  • [2013-08-22 8:04]

Hi Anna.
I share thoughts of your note. It is a great luck and pleasure to watch live view :). Simply amazing expressive scene and perfect composition. Bright brown-red strip at FG, natural cloudy sky and green vegetation as a BG create a fine composition. Well done and warm regards.
Alexei.

  • Great 
  • tuslaw Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2754 W: 282 N: 4931] (19883)
  • [2013-08-25 17:28]

Hello Anna,
I must say it seems like elephants enjoy the same things that my grandkids do....mud baths, socializing, water games, and football:)
A wonderful capture and of the highest quality which seems to be a trade mark from you.
I am always amazed as viewing such large creatures walking freely in the wild, which I'm sure you folks are very use to seeing on a regular basis. The largest animal we see here in Ohio is our White-tailed Deer, which may go around 250 pounds. TFS.
Ron

Ciao Anna. Focus sharp and DOF are impressive. Beautiful colours. Well done.

Roberto

Hello Anna,
Very great capture of two elephants playing or interacting with each other. Excellent DOF, superb sharpness, great details and brilliant natural colours. Very well done, and thanks for sharing.
John

  • Great 
  • IronM Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 144 W: 3 N: 345] (2608)
  • [2013-09-10 0:21]

Hi Anna,
wonderful capture of these beautiful elephants,
great timing , excellent sharpness, lovely composition !
Well done !
Best regards !

Great photo of this African Elephants!
A fantastic moment of interaction.
Very well done!

Hello Anna

Thank you for tis sharing from a picture of two african elephants.

Good point of view, showing the elephant playing together like childrens (it's what we perceive; I'm not very sure that for the elephants, it's only a game.

Good composition of the picture with a frame well filled. Sharpness and depth of field properly adapted to the subject.

For your information, even if I agree with the preservation of the elephants, we must also understand that more or less often elephants are a nuisance for the cultivation and the peace in african villages. I personnally have visited areas who are completely devasted by elephants. So, what to do?

Anyway, thank you for the sharing.

Regards..

Philippe.

  • Great 
  • Adanac Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1273 W: 1 N: 6188] (21378)
  • [2013-09-20 19:02]

Hello Anna,
Brilliant photo of these two magnificent beasts interacting.
Great job Anna
Hugs Rick

Amazing scene Anna! Great photo too. Excellent composition, wonderful lighting and very good sharpness.
Regards,
Christodoulos

  • Great 
  • waylim Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 296 W: 8 N: 489] (1765)
  • [2014-01-09 19:26]

Hi Ana,

Saw this one yesterday, and put it in my fav, but didn't have time to write. I love the way they interact with each other so intimate like two best friends. Thanks for all the wonderful note about their activities. and it is nice to witness one of these moments. I have seen some elepants, but nothing like this. The POV here show just how big they are.

Fantastic shot with good quality as always.

Way

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