Monday, April 28, 2008

From Dave Price


Benares, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

"Notice the two gentlemen in charge of crowd control!
So much more effective than the crime scene tape used today by Ken & Nicole."
Buckles

Posted by Buckles at 4/28/2008 08:32:00 AM

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That seems to be a very large elephant. Assuming that the guards are 5'6", I would guess 11 1/2 to 12 feet. Any others want to estimate?
Bob Kitto

28 April, 2008 19:53
Anonymous said...

I doubt this elephant measured 11 ft.unless he came from Nepal.

According to Rosemarie Twinam of the Scientific Exploration Society, 1999 Asian Elephant Survey, the bull elephants of western Nepal are the largest Asian elephants ever recorded.

A large male Asian elephant usually measures to 9' 6". The male, Raja Gaj, in the Bardia National Park, Nepal, is the largest Asian ever measured. He has an estimated shoulder height of 11' 3" to 11' 6". These western Nepalese elephants are unique in that they are as tall as male African elephants. Two methods of measurement are used: 1) Measuring the foot prints. 2) Taking Polaroid photographs of the elephants standing near a tree, and then measuring the tree.

Mrs. Twinam also advises that another unique feature of these bulls is their high domed heads. At first it was thought that they might be related to mammoths, as the domes are much more exaggerated than their other Asian kin. Genetic tests have shown that they are not. More testing will be done comparing them to other Asian elephants to see if they are genetically different.

29 April, 2008 15:09
Anonymous said...

World's Biggest Asian Elephant Missing In Nepal
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NEPAL: December 6, 2007

KATHMANDU - What is thought to be the world's largest Asian elephant has been missing from a Nepali wildlife reserve for a year and may well be dead, a reserve official said on Wednesday.

Raja Gaj, or king elephant, was estimated to be 11 feet 3 inches (nearly 3.5 metres) tall at the shoulder, some two feet taller than the average Asian elephant. The bull was one of the main tourist attractions at Bardia National Park in southwest Nepal.
"When I saw it last it was lean and thin, and finding it difficult to carry its own weight," Phanindra Kharel, a senior conservationist at the park, said.
Raja Gaj is, or was, more than 70 years old.
"There is very little possibility of finding such an old animal alive."
Kharel said he could not be sure if Raja Gaj had been killed by poachers, an illegal but common activity in the region.
He said he would ask colleagues in India this month if the elephant had wandered over into a nature reserve on the other side of the border.
There are about 250 Asian elephants -- an endangered species -- in the Himalayan nation, about 100 of them are domesticated and used for elephant polo and safaris in national parks.
(Reporting by Gopal Sharma; Editing by Jonathan Allen)

29 April, 2008 15:24

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