India's Elephants Photographs by Annette Bonnier
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IND I A' S ELEPHANTS PHOTOGRAPHS BY ANNETTE BONNieR I N D I A’ S ELEPHANTS PHOTOGRAPHS BY ANNETTE BONNIER Books & Books Press Foreword Steve McCurry Annette Bonnier’s work with the elephants of India is a testament to her fascination with these great creatures and the unique and intricate relationship they share with humanity—at times worshipped and other times enslaved. This interdependence is as controversial as it is complex. In undertaking this project, Annette has followed her passion for photography to explore the world of the working elephant, and the relationship of animal and mahout, revealing something special and genuine about these graceful and majestic animals and the men who live and work with them. Previous Mahout riding elephant to the Periyar River. Kodanad Elephant Training Center, Kodanad, Kerala. 8 9 Introduction Judith Mason We can picture them emerging from the forest mists, huge grey shapes on floral and abstract designs are the usual motifs, often applied with great skill. How does silent feet, walking as families do, with the matriarch in front, and the rest clustered it feel to the elephant, one wonders, who can have no idea of what the final result looks behind her, babies, adolescents, nieces and nephews. Strolling down to the river to bathe like? The paint is not toxic, and the painter is gentle and caressing in his actions. It and frolic and refresh themselves and then vanishing again under the vast canopy of the should seem absurd—as if a huge parody of Mae West is being made up for a shoot by jungle. Sometime in the later eons of their existence, elephants encountered their only the studio’s best cosmetician. But elephants are never ridiculous. Generations of carved real predator, humans. We can only guess at the process by which we finally managed ivory ornaments, obscene elephant’s foot stools, plush toys, cartoon characters, and to make these great mammals biddable. It probably included kidnapping infants, killing pyjama prints have been unable to erode the creature’s enormous dignity. off adults of the herd, and, perhaps, a peculiar sympathy on the part of the occasional tribesman who found that he had an affinity with his captives. Gradually we turned We are humbled by great mammals—whales, elephants, gorillas. It is not elephants into beasts of burden, pulling teak from the forests to the timber yards and just a question of size, but of respect. Animal behaviourists and proponents of animal dragging supplies behind armies on the march. We co-opted elephants as warriors, as, rights are nudging us towards questioning whether we are the only species worthy of caparisoned in armour, they shrieked and stampeded their way through hundreds of fundamental rights. The more we get to know and understand animals, the more we wars from the Battle of Zama in 202 BC to the Battle of Plassey in 1757. Eventually apprehend that some have intelligence and social structures eerily similar to our own. they were replaced by the armoured tank, and they assumed a more peaceful role in our This certainly applies to elephants, capable of responding to fairly detailed instructions, lives. Their age-old function as splendid mounts for maharajahs and monarchs, not to capable of being midwife to calving relatives, apparently capable of mourning their dead, mention grandees of the raj, has declined somewhat, and now they are at the bidding and certainly capable of mourning the loss of an infant. People have seen them support of the new royalty, tourists. They may perform at village fairs or hump heavy furniture their aged and frail relatives when the going gets rough. Play, for the sheer joy of it, is around the busy streets of the subcontinent. Some have miserable lives, looked after part of their lives. So are more sinister features. Elephants take offence—and revenge. by feckless or indifferent masters; others are purchased for vast sums from dealers at Mahouts are generally kind, using the ankush judiciously, but many stories attest to the the Sonepur Mela. Some have the pleasure of showing us the Terai, as we sway on our fact that abused elephants bide their time and kill vicious handlers when the opportunity howdahs, looking at elephant grass, tiger spoor, and Indian rhinos. At the behest of the arises. More disturbing yet is the finding that some orphaned juveniles exhibit antisocial mahout, our mount may pick up a peacock feather or a dropped camera filter and pass behaviour similar to that of deprived human youngsters, attacking females and fighting it to her passengers. At the end of the journey they all go down to the water to lie in the their peers without reason. Like us, elephants need an ordered life. shallows while attendants wash them with bristle brushes and clean their nails. Feeding time comes, and patties of rice and a salad of leaves is served. As in any family, the males Look into an elephant’s tiny eye, almost lost in the vast landscape of its will tuck in and the females will keep a watchful eye on the young ones, some of whom hide. It looks back at you, wary, shrewd. Sometimes almost coquettish behind those play with their food. One piles his dinner on his head and looks around for applause lashes. It is impossible to feel superior to a creature like this. In the quiet connection from us, or censure from his grandmother. It seems a happy life. of that gaze, we learn about tolerance. About surviving captivity and exploitation, about calm cooperation. About waiting. Waiting, perhaps, until our species wipes itself We also find them outside the smart hotels, like double-decker buses out and these majestic beasts can return to the mist and the forest, with little bits waiting for their fares, after being painted by body artists. Red, yellow, white, and blue of pigment in the crevices of their skin. 10 11 12 13 Wild elephants huddling to protect the baby in their midst. Previous Havelock Island, Andaman Islands, Bay of Bengal. Rajiv Gandhi Wildlife National Park, Kodagu, Karnataka. 14 15 Wild female elephants cooling themselves with dirt. Kaziranga National Park, Assam. 16 17 Wild elephant in musth. Kaziranga National Park, Assam. Opposite A stand of bamboo that has seeded and died after sixty years of growth. Bamboo is elephants’ favorite food. Kabini Forest Reserve, Karnataka. Following pages Kaziranga National Park, Assam. 18 19 20 21 Male tusker bathing in the Nugu River. Bandipur National Park, Karnataka. 22 23 Rajan, a fifty-nine-year-old retired logging elephant, walking into the ocean for his morning swim. Logging elephants were once trained to swim from island to island for work. Havelock Island, Andaman Islands, Bay of Bengal. 24 25 Left and opposite Havelock Island, Andaman Islands, Bay of Bengal. 26 27 Elephant using trunk as a snorkel. Havelock Island, Andaman Islands, Bay of Bengal. 28 29 Havelock Island, Andaman Islands, Bay of Bengal. Guruvayur, Kerala. 30 31 Wild elephants reveling in mud bath. Kabini Forest Reserve, Karnataka. Bathing in the Nugu River. Bandipur National Park, Karnataka. 32 33 Mahouts bathing elephants in the Periyar River. Kodanad Elephant Training Center, Kodanad, Kerala. Opposite Mahouts scrubbing elephant’s head with coconut husks in the Periyar River. Kodanad Elephant Training Center, Kodanad, Kerala. 34 35 Mahout picking gravel from soles of Ramachandran, a famous festival elephant elephant’s feet. Jaipur, Rajasthan. who is blind in one eye. Thrissur, Kerala. 36 37 Ankusha keeping elephant still during a bath in the Kaveri River. Dubare Elephant Camp, Coorg, Karnataka. 38 39 Before the monsoon rains. Kaziranga National Park, Assam. 40 41 Drunken mahout agitating male elephant in musth. Thrissur, Kerala. Following pages Male elephant in musth. During rutting season, a Several wild female elephants charging to protect male elephant’s glands secrete an oily substance and his behavior their young. Kaziranga National Park, Assam. becomes very aggressive. Guruvayur, Kerala. 42 43 44 45 Mahout guiding a logging elephant with a twist of his foot. Dibrugarh Forest, Joypur, Arunachal Pradesh. Opposite Elephant helping a mahout mount his back. Dubare Elephant Camp, Coorg, Karnataka. 46 47 Above and opposite Logging elephant at work. The heavy chains on the elephant’s saddle help to pull the massive logs. Dibrugarh Forest, Joypur, Arunachal Pradesh. 48 49 Mahout guiding a logging elephant with the tips of his fingers. Dibrugarh Forest, Joypur, Arunachal Pradesh. Logging elephant pulling heavy logs. Dibrugarh Forest, Joypur, Arunachal Pradesh. Following pages Dubare Elephant Camp, Coorg, Karnataka. 50 51 52 53 Dubare Elephant Camp, Coorg, Karnataka. Opposite Elephants returning from their bath. Thithimathi Mathigodu Elephant Camp, Thithimathi, Karnataka. 54 55 Above and opposite Dubare Elephant Camp, Coorg, Karnataka. 56 57 Boy feeding family elephant at safari camp. At the border of Kaziranga National Park, Assam. Opposite Elephant waiting for his saddle. Dubare Elephant Camp, Coorg, Karnataka. Following page left Elephant carrying food from the forest back to camp. Dubare Elephant Camp, Coorg, Karnataka. Following page right Guruvayur, Kerala. 58 59 60 61 62 63 Previous Safari elephant and mahout crossing Elephant waiting for tourist rides at a bridge to Kaziranga National Park, Assam. Amber Fort. Jaipur, Rajasthan. 64 65 Government housing for elephants and mahouts. Elephant Village, Jaipur, Rajasthan. 66 67 Mahout cleaning elephant after safari rides. Elephant Village, Jaipur, Rajasthan. 68 69 Elephant Village, Jaipur, Rajasthan. Safari elephant in dry riverbed near Corbett National Park, Dhikuli, Uttaranchal. 70 71 Temple elephant and mahout. Jambukeswarar Temple, Thiruvanaikaval, Tamil Nadu. 72 73 74 75 Previous Amber Fort, Jaipur, Rajasthan. Mahout with elephant for tourist rides. Jaipur, Rajasthan. 76 77 Amber Fort, Jaipur, Rajasthan. 78 79 Above and opposite Amber Fort, Jaipur, Rajasthan.