BENGALURU: In one of the latest insights into the behaviour of wild elephants, a rare video of one smoking in Nagarhole forests has been captured by a scientist from Wildlife Conservation Society, India.
The elephant appears to be ingesting charcoal and blowing ashes in a burnt forest floor during the summer month of April, 2016. This unusual behaviour has baffled experts and scientists worldwide as this is the first such photographic or video documentation of a pachyderm smoking.
The rare video was shot by Vinay Kumar, Assistant Director of WCS India and captures a wild Asian elephant exhibiting incredibly unusual behaviour. The video was taken while he, along his field staff were checking in on their installed camera-traps in the park as part of WCS India’s long-term monitoring of tiger populations in Nagarhole National Park.