thephotosocietyさんのインスタグラム写真 - (thephotosocietyInstagram)「Photograph by David Chancellor @chancellordavid - a bull elephant is helped to its feet by rangers, Eastern Cape, South Africa - the preferred cause of action here was a standing sedation (I’ve talked about this technique in previous posts) however due to the size of this enormous bull elephant we eventually had to sedate the elephant in order to carry out the lancing of two cysts high on its shoulders, and an anti fence breaking procedure, which I’ll talk about in more detail in another post. This is without doubt one of the largest bulls I’ve ever seen. He’s relatively habituated and lives along side two other bulls which you’ll see waiting and watching, along with a ranger, for him to return to the herd; he’s the dominant male. All three elephants are managed via testosterone inhibitors, these prevent them from breeding. The side effect of this is that bull elephants increase enormously in size when testosterone production is inhibited. This makes them impressive, but very complex when veterinarian procedures are required. It’s necessary to manage elephants capacity to breed in order to protect ecosystems and accommodate them in smaller conservancy’s where browse is limited. Once on his feet all three bulls charged towards each other, trumpeted, and then spent the next 30 mins gently exploring the body of the dominant bull with their trunks demonstrating the extraordinary bond that elephants have with each other. It was only once they were convinced that all was well with the dominant bull that they returned to feeding - continually in awe of the extraordinary work done by those who dedicate their lives to protecting the planets wildlife 💚👍🏿👍🏼 - To see more on this subject, follow me here @chancellordavid @natgeo @thephotosociety @everydayextinction #southafrica #elephants #conservation」4月3日 1時00分