Such cute baby elephants!

[Mike Buckley]

When selecting photos for this series of baby elephants, I'm defining a baby as one that is still nursing. (I was surprised to see on our trip to South Africa that the babies go from female to female to nurse, apparently not caring about which elephant is the mother.)

The first three photos were captured by my wife and post-processed by me. All of them were captured at the Hapoor water hole, which is explained in this thread.


Photo #1



Photo #2



Photo #3: Rest time



Photo #4: Leading the charge!

[FlyingSquirrel]

Great shots, Mike. Despite the stressful situation I've been dealing with, I couldn't help but smile when I saw these photos. #3 kills me!

[ShaneS]

Mike, these are all very smile worthy I really like #2 and #4 and wonder if they would make a beautiful pair should you convert #4 to black and white. Hers and his so to speak...

[Donald]

(I was surprised to see on our trip to South Africa that the babies go from female to female to nurse, apparently not caring about which elephant is the mother.)

Yep. We think we're so smart, yet there is so much we need to learn (or re-discover) about how to live together in groups and end the awful 'Me, me, me' attitudes that have pervaded, particularly, western societies over the last 30 years. I don't suggest that we ask all our women to offer themselves up as wet nurses, but there is a strong message in there about group/community supports.

That is superb. Photographer and Processor working well as a team.

[Mike Buckley]

Donald: If I were to post only one photo of a baby elephant, it would be the one that you also like. Thanks for mentioning the teamwork between my wife and me, because that's exactly the way we think of each other. It's not just that she does the capturing and I do the rest; we're so often standing or sitting next to each other and capturing such very different images.

Shane: When I first saw #4, I thought it would work better as a monochrome, so I immediately converted it. Sadly, I didn't like it as much as in color, probably due to my own deficiencies. Perhaps some day I'll be able to make it work for me. Maybe I'll be able to pair the two photos that you mentioned and caption them "Passive and Aggressive."

Matt: Glad to know that these cute babies gave you a pleasant respite from having to think about practical matters.

[GrahamS]

Mike, in photo No2, the baby elephant's head is covered in a white dust or mud. It is known that adult elephants will do this to babies in order to increase the reflectance of the sun and thus lower the skin temperature, but I have never seen such a clear example. It's usually just dark mud or dust which is all that is available. Wonderful shot, Bravo!

[Mike Buckley]

Mike, in photo No2, the baby elephant's head is covered in a white dust or mud.

It's actually the opposite, Graham; the baby elephant's torso is covered in reddish brown dust and mud and the head appears different in this photo because it isn't.