Food Glorious Food, a photo from Coast, East

Photographer's Note

One thing about Tsavo East that was truly memorable was the large number of elephants we saw. This little group was part of a larger herd who were enjoying the plentiful food in the area.

Among herbivores, the elephants’ diet is perhaps the least specialised. Daily fare is vegetarian and ranges from roots, grasses, leaves, fruit, twigs, seedpods, and tree bark. The milling action of the two pairs of huge long, rasp-like molars, and the incredible versatile trunk, means that the elephant can feed from ground level up to 6m and eat virtually anything green. The elephant's molars slide forward and backward rather than side-to-side, unlike other herbivores.
Thanks to the marvellous dexterity of the trunk, elephants can pick up nuts, strip off leaves and bark, break off branches, and uproot shrubs and small trees. Some bulls master the technique of pushing over mature trees; this trait makes them very significant habitat modifiers, wherever they range in Africa.
An elephant consumes about 4% to 6% of its body weight daily. The average bull therefore munches about 300 kg while a cow takes 170 kg of food per day. Considering that this is such a huge animal, this is actually modest. The reason, as physiologists will tell you, is that compared to smaller mammals, elephants lose a lot less heat due to lower surface area to body ratio. The elephant's fibrous dung shows that digestion is very incomplete- only about 44% of food is assimilated compared to 66% for common ruminants

papagolf21, holmertz, chanteuse, rychem, saxo042, Cricri, tyro, i9l2y1m8a8t3, vasilpro, bayno, jhm, annjackman, annjackman, Angshu, edcone has marked this note useful

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mesutilgim (68014) 2012-02-25 1:18

Hello Rosemary my neighbour,
Very nice "family" , well captured in their natural habitat.
Nice soft light; and many interesting notes.
TFS and best regards
MESUT ILGIM

papagolf21 (76603) 2012-02-25 1:41

Bonjour, chère Rosemary,
Difficile de ne pas craquer devant cette famille réunie.
Excellente réalisation où les pachydermes sont magnifiquement représentés.
Un cadrage, qui mérite toutes les félicitations.
Amitiés.
Philippe

ifege (9448) 2012-02-25 1:55

A good group portrait Rosemary - well captured and good colour. I would have got rid of those stray leaves in the top left though.
cheers
Ian

timecapturer (30342) 2012-02-25 3:07

Hi Rosemary
this is irresisitable and so beautifully captured. The sharpness and clarity are superb. A stunning wildlife composition, well done!

Enjoy the weekend - regards Brian.

ChrisJ (86902) 2012-02-25 3:11

Hello Rosemary

Nice capture of the elephants with good sharpness & repetition. I like the 2 calves at left. Not sure what a baby elephant is called. Will look it up on internet later. I also like the warm colours of yellow red. Effective tight framing here with no part of the screen wasted. Tfs!

williewhistler (7299) 2012-02-25 3:29

Hello Rosemary,it`s always nice to see wildlife photos where the subject is doing something they say,so what could be better than a well composed family of elephants enjoying a spot of lunch,perfect timing in a pleasing setting.
Kind regards Les.

holmertz (26980) 2012-02-25 4:38

Hello Rosemary,
I envy you this moment, getting so close to these fantastic animals and seeing them from this angle. They have positioned themselves perfectly for a family portrait and were obviously not at all bothered by your presence. The exposure and sharpness is admirable.
Regards,
Gert

chanteuse (202) 2012-02-25 6:07

Fascinating note! I had no idea that they could pick up nuts with their trunks. Beautiful browns of the elephants are echoed in flashes of earth behind and the lovely sharp detail of the grass she is munching shows up nicely. Excellent composition, their grand shapes fill the frame in an interesting way. The two little ones so close together - you've invited us right into their world, I can almost smell them. : *)

Sergiom (39298) 2012-02-25 6:14

Bonjour Rosemary,

C'est un voyage qu'il faut se payer un jour.Voir ces beaux éléphants dans leur environnement naturel est un rêve surtout quand la famille se découvre d'aussi belle facon.

Amicalement

Serge

jjcordier (62366) 2012-02-25 6:58

Rosemary
Une très belle et touchante "photo de famille", lumineuse, colorée et composée de superbe façon; Excellente qualité d'image.
Amicalement
JJ

dkmurphys (36831) 2012-02-25 7:04

Hi Rosemary,
Lovely wildlife capture. One of the greatests animals of Earth. Charming family catch.
Enjoy a fine day.

Daniel

rychem (9240) 2012-02-25 7:41

Beautiful family photo, excellent scene, sharpness and details
regards
Ryszard

Silvio1953 (98217) 2012-02-25 8:47

Ciao Rosemary, lovely family composition with fantastic creatures, wonderful colors, excellent sharpness, beautiful natural ambientation and splendid light, very well done my friend, have a good week end, ciao Silvio

saxo042 (31802) 2012-02-25 9:04

Hi Rosemary,
A very pleasant family portrait with parents and twins. They are well assembled inside the frame and I hope they will be able to stay happy like this and that poachers will not find them.
Kind regards
Gunnar

Cricri (86501) 2012-02-25 9:18

Hi Rosemary
Une note très intéressante
Et une belle image de cette famille bien cadrer, netteté et couleurs magnifiques, j'adore les deux bébés
Belle soirée
cricri

siudzi (23939) 2012-02-25 9:40

Hi Rosemary,

What a beautiful family shot!:) Absolutely stunning and lovely view of this great moment. Well seen and taken image. Thanks for sharing.

Regards,
Malgorzata

tyro (13111) 2012-02-25 14:14

Hello Rosemary,

A very interesting note you have given us and an even more wonderful photograph with which to illustrate it.

You must have been not that far distant to take this picture at a focal length of 125mm but this is a lovely family group picture - just the thing for these elephants to keep in their family album to show the young twins here in a few years when they're older! I presume that elephants occasionally have twins? Or are there also two adult females here too as well as daddy?

Gorgeous colours, perfect exposure and composition and stunning sharpness.

Beautiful!

Kind Regards,

John.

P.S. Your inclusion of a map was very useful too. Did you know that if you open the map here by clicking on the link, you can then get a bigger map if you click on the multicoloured "Google" logo on the small map? And, althouugh the Google camera car obviously hasn't been here, there's still a little yellow man and if you drag him down to the big map you can see blue dots, each of which represents (and opens up if you click on it) a Panoramio photograph.

i9l2y1m8a8t3 (4435) 2012-02-25 17:26

Hi Rosemary,
Seems that I missed a lot for one week! Boy, it was hell week! Anyway, a lovely capture on these seemingly elephant family. Love how the two little elephants snuggle each other. Nice warm tones and I really loved the clarity of this picture. Great shot! TFS!

warm regards,
Matt

vasilpro (40194) 2012-02-26 0:17

Hello Rosemary,
Beautiful scene that only in Zoo we can see, excellent POV, lovely light and contrast, very good clarity and sharpness, very nice framework, TfS!
Have a nice Sunday, Vasilis.

Nicou (97775) 2012-02-26 5:43

Hlelo

fantastique image de ces éléphants ave3c les peites quelle vue grandisoe j'adore le éléphant s'est une grande mervielle, superbe ensemble et iamge, dans la savane.

Bravo et amitié

Nicou

Royaldevon (17791) 2012-02-26 5:52

Hello Rosemary,

A delightful family group and perfectly positioned for a nonchalant shot. I just love how they fill the frame, each head at a strong compositional point.
You have excellent textural details in the sharp exposure.

Do you feel in any danger being so close to large, wild animals?

Have a lovely day,
Bev :-)

bayno (16213) 2012-02-26 9:15

Hi Rosemary,
This is a beautiful capture of these wonderful elephants in the free state, the two pups are fantastic, beautiful light and lovely colors, perfect exposure, You were not very far I have seen that the focal length is 125 mm,
warm regards,
Valter

jhm (122474) 2012-02-27 4:12

Hello Rosemary,

What a lovely picture perhaps the mother and aunt and two nice little elephants.
Excellent composed and nice captured.
Very well done, TFS.

Best regards,
John.

annjackman (13227) 2012-02-27 5:02

Hello Rosemary,
Wow - this is first class wildlife photography. Not only have you caught a beautiful subject with the family here but every detail is hown. That wrinkled skin and its colours are super. It's interesting how their colour seems to come from the mud baths and the local colour of the soil. In Etosha the elephants are a light grey. I would love to have taken this picture - tremendous!
Best wishes, Ann

Angshu (51174) 2012-02-28 1:47

Hello Rosemary
Nice picture of the elephant family. I like the little ones who seems to be very much, cuddling against each other at peace, surrounded by the parents. The muddy colour of their skin is quite different from the grey what we see in Indian elephants.
Best Regards
Angshu

danyy (0) 2012-02-28 4:00

Bonjour Rosemary,
une photo très touchante, d'abord par l'amour protecteur des parents et ensuite ces deux bébés qui se frottent amoureusement l'un à l'autre.
Perfection dans les couleurs et les lumières mais aussi dans une mise au point très précise.
My best regards.
Daniel.

Rafer (14229) 2012-03-01 5:10

Preciosa..Magnífica...muy buena composición, luz y color!! Saludos....Greetings!!

Waylim (22357) 2012-03-01 22:36

Hi Rosemary,

Lovely family portrait, the two young ones are particularly cute and I just want to hug them, not a good idea I know, I will be stomped to death by the mama and papa :) General there are a bit much in the red hue, maybe the elephants are showering themselves with dust which they do often.

Takes me back to my wonderful trip in Masai Mara.

Thanks.

Way

Noel_Byrne (7426) 2012-03-05 3:50

Hi Rosemary,
A stunning family portrait, you could almost imagine they have posed for you for this shot. I love the warm colours in this, I can feel the heat of the sun even though I cant see the sun itself. Beautifully done.
Regards
NOel