2011-03-21 – Amboseli G.R.

Today I spotted one of the big tuskers of Amboseli immediately after sunrise. Not far was a family of females and calves heading to the swamps. As they saw him heading slowly towards them they paused and lifted their trunks smelling the air. They could feel the very strong and pungent smell typical of bulls in musth. Musth is a period of high testosterone that occurs in mature bulls, which makes them particularly aggressive and attractive to females. They waited for him to join them and then they proceeded together to Longinye swamp to feed. In the afternoon I found the huge bull again on his own and not far as another bull with big tusks. The two came face to face in the last evening sun but the second bull quickly acknowledged the fact that the other was much bigger and in musth, so he walked away under big dark clouds.