In this page, we put photos of familiar elephants, in alphabetic order of the names we give them. We tried to continue with Mark Davidar’s tradition of naming elephants with names of the star footballers of the Brazilian team. Sometimes however, lack of imagination strikes and we take some liberties.  Look at the elephants carefully, you will be able to distinguish them.

Benito

 Benito looks very much like Rivaldo. He is younger and smaller and was called Benito from “well”, “bene” in Latin. He was always with Kaka (2013) because young males prefer not to be alone. But later we observed him to be alone.

Benito May 2013

It is difficult to believe that the young, slender Benito of 2013 has become this solid tusker in the following picture. We could not identify him because he looked so wide. But, if you look at the ears, their upper folds are not the same. Benito has a left ear without upper fold and a right ear with an upper fold. Elephant identification made more complicated!

Benito July 2019

 

 

 

 Bommi

Bommi and her son Bunta are regular visitors. Bommi is now (2020) an old female unseen since 2017. We first saw her during the dry season 2011 and we though she might not survive. But she did. She is tolerant of us and we consider her to be an old friend.

Bommi and Bunta March 2011

This photo below, is the last of Bommi. She looks exhausted from the drought. The calf, Titi would die a few days later. He could not make it back to the water hole. Bunta, luckily was strong by then and managed to survive.

Bommi, Bunta and Titi in Feb. 2017

 Bunta

Bunta is Bommie’s son. We recognize him by its parallel, straight, almost vertical tusks. He comes now without his mother from which he started to separate in 2017. Young males wander further and further away from their mother, the need for safety being probably not so important. When they realize they have lost their mother for the first time, they may call for days. And when they reunite, they display their affection by rumbling, rubbing and smelling each other. Behaviorist would say that we should not project our human feelings and behavior on animal, which is true for some research and also because we can’t be in the elephants’ shoes. But at the same time, it would be stupid to deny something we don’t know much about. Mother and son may very very well have affection for each other: would it be surprising after all?

Bunta June 2020.

Digger

Digger is easy to identify with only a right tusk and a hole in its left ear. He is an irregular and shy visitor.

Digger Aug. 2013

 

Kaka

Kaka was the constant companion of Benito when they were young. He has small tusks, curved and inward. If he sees people, he can disappear at high speed or, for some reason, decide to charge. Some of the staff of the Forest Department were visiting us when he decided to charge. We have never seen faster Government servants.

Kaka Apr. 2013.

 Leonardo

Leonardo has long and curved tusks. He is very attentive with what he does. He systematically break trees and bamboos with exquisite ability, hence his name from Leonardo Da Vinci. He is reserved, but can traverse the open space between our kitchen and dining room if he decides to and sometimes enters the dining hall and helps himself to all our vegetables. He drinks water without wasting a drop which indicates excellent table manners if we excuse the stealing. He is a gentlephant.

Leonardo Jul. 2014.

 Marques

Marques is a regular visitor. Like most elephants he does not like wild dogs (Cuon alpinus). He would chase them, vent his anger on a bush and then go in the direction the pack has taken as if to pursue them with his vengeance. In the picture below, he is in a peaceful frame of mind, waking up from a nap.

Marques Jul. 2019 after a short nap.

 Maximus

Maximus is seen every year for short periods. He looks fairly old and experienced. Even though he is discreet, he is not shy or frightened. Can you make this out? Simple: elephants that you see in this website in full daylight come relatively close to the house during the day. But since we are very discreet ourselves, this behavior is probably not valid everywhere.

Maximus Dec. 2013.

 

 Pele

Pele is an adult tusker with fairly small tusks. He is calm and comfortable at the Sigur Nature Trust. He comes near the house at night to scrape short grass since we remove invasive plants.

Pele July 2019.

Pedro

Pedro is a large tusker, rare but regular visitor. He is sufficiently confident to come during the day (here in the morning) but would avoid the sight of humans.

Pedro May 2016.

 Rivaldo

Rivaldo is unfortunately too easy to identify. His trunk is cut by a good 40 cm. His tusks are straight and symmetrical. He is our hero, benign and maybe not too intelligent to put his nose where he should not have.

Rivaldo Apr. 2013.

Rivaldo was unfortunate enough to meet Ronaldo and got hurt. He was treated again in September 2015 by the Forest Department.

Rivaldo Sept. 2015, sleeping on the car shed, waiting for treatment.

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Ronaldo

Ronaldo is massive, bigger than Rivaldo and his presence sends chills down the spine. You have to make way. He has destroyed our dining room once. He is accused of murder in the area, but you know how it is: if you are tough and have a reputation, you are accused of everything. His reputation is certainly exaggerated. Ronaldo is easily identified by a lower right tusk. But don’t bother to memorize. If you see him close, you will not forget.

Ronaldo Jun. 2013

Ronaldo recently lost the tip of his right tusk and a bit of his tail.

Ronaldo June 20

Ronaldo got hurt by people in November 2020 and was hurt again by a petrol bomb or a similar devise near Pongal holiday. He died a painful death on 19th January 2021. We sorely miss the king and the jungle around us has become a little more a of a suburb.

Socrates

Socrates is one of the dominant tuskers, but is fairly shy.

Socrates August 2016

Suares

Suares came only once, but what a visit! One night, he made our local hero Ronaldo and his long tusks run three times around the house at top speed. We did not see any elephant body the next day, so we thought Ronaldo still has good legs. Not in a very good mood with his fellow elephants, he came behind a young adult tusker drinking and sent him flying. The elephant fell on this four legs. The shock of witnessing such a sudden and violent attack made us shout more as a reflex than anything else. This might have saved the fallen elephant who ran away. We were glad to see that he escaped without a serious injury. His backside may have pained for a few days but a bit of a shame was proof that life is beautiful.

Suares Jan. 2015

 

 

 Zidane

 Zidane the French football player has no hair, Zidane the elephant has no tusk, but they are both very gifted for football.

Zidane May 2016