January 16th 2020. The children traveling early morning to school in the EleBus had come upon an astounding sight, two jungle giants tussling to assert dominancy. Both bulls were in musth and in a belligerent mood. In the not too distant past before the SLWCS established the EleFriendly Bus, in a similar situation these children would have had to miss school, or their parents would have had to use thunder flashes or even resort to violent means such as shooting the elephants to ensure the safety of their children and themselves.

On this day the children had a grandstand view from the safety of the EleBus to observe these two male elephants engaged in combat to affirm who is stronger and bigger.

The rumble between the two bulls continued throughout the day and they were still going at it by the time the children returned home from school and our volunteers arrived at the Elephant Corridor at 3 pm.

The bulls charged at each other, scuffled and pushed for a while and then broke off and expressed agonistic behaviors such as walking parallel to each other with their heads and bodies held high. One bull had claimed the road while the other paraded alongside it on the other side of the ditch.

While the two rambunctious bulls went about trying to impress each other a family herd of elephants with several juveniles arrived and fed nearby. The herd completely ignored the two cantankerous males.

This is was the situation when we arrived at the Tree Hut Elephant Corridor. The bull on the road immediately approached the vehicle with quick strides and his intentions were very clear. When we admonished it, he turned around and headed quickly towards the vehicles where the SLWCS staff and volunteers were recording the behaviors of the two bulls. Since the people on either end would not give into his intimidation the bull crossed the ditch and joined its rival and wondered off into the forest without engaging in further fighting.

Life is never boring in Wasgamuwa.

For information about the SLWCS Volunteering Program please contact us at: info@slwcs.org

Big, rumbling thanks to our Corporate Partners for their kind support and to everyone who has donated and supported our wildlife conservation efforts!
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Photo Credits:

Chandima Fernando/SLWCS
Rosemary Kimble/SLWCS Volunteer
Indika Sampath/SLWCS
Ravi Corea/SLWCS