An elephant herd of 10 females and 2 calves was lying on the road

2 years ago
23

The Battle of Kabini
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As we sat in the vehicle with the covers wrapped around us on a typical monsoon morning we heard a troop of Bonnet Macaques around us going haywire. We moved a little further to investigate the reason for their nervousness when we saw an elephant herd of 10 females and 2 calves huddled down the road and something walking towards them at a distance. It was a pack of 13 Wild Dogs on a hunt who were scouring the jungle for prey. The Elephant herd had 2 tiny calves and because the pack size was quite big ,they were potential prey. Since I had seen this particular pack hunting on quite a few occasions, I knew their fearless nature will surely entice them to atleast give it a try for sure. The first thing they would try and do was to create chaos and try to separate the calves from the adults. It was a tense moment for all of us.
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Once the herd realised that the Dogs were around they formed an impenetrable wall by surrounding both the calves. While this was happening, one member of the herd (seen in the video) decided to take on the pack herself so that this could distract them and hence buy time for the herd to move away to safety. So she charged at them and started to kick the wet mud at each one of the Wild Dogs. She tried her best to get them, and during this time I was hoping against hope that she does not get close to them, as that would mean death for sure. Thankfully the pack was very nimble footed and managed to avoid the fury of the four ton pachyderm.
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Realistically speaking there was very less chance of a hunt happening with quite a few adults there to protect them. If only the mother with the calf had been separated from the herd then there was a good possibility. Having said that , in the wild you never know when the tables can turn.
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