BENGALURU: Sundar’s antics have left his keepers at Bengaluru Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBBP) both delighted and perplexed. The 20-year-old tusker has a strangely human habit – he picks up a twig and proceeds to use it much like an ear bud. Having seen Sundar scratch his flapping ear with it, and look quite satisfied, a fellow cow elephant, Menaka, has picked up the habit too.
However, she uses the twig to scratch her neck and underbelly. Animal keepers, zoo authorities and biologists who stumbled upon this new characteristic in Sundar, were intrigued by this behaviour. “Usually, elephants use branches to dust themselves or use twigs to poke or scratch, but this characteristic is unusual among animals. Sundar uses small twigs, sometimes breaks bigger ones, fits them to size and uses them as ear buds,” said Amla M Anil, education officer and animal behaviour analyst at BBBP.
Observing Sundar since 2014, the BBBP started monitoring him closely after he was moved out of his kraal four months ago. He was brought to BBBP in 2014 at the age of 15, after he was rescued from a temple in Kolhapur, Maharashtra. “He was a very aggressive tusker initially, but has started to relax and follows the commands of his keeper.
While animals use tools, I have not seen any other animal do this earlier. Our staffers are observing the animals to understand their behaviour. Recently, the effect of music on Rhesus Macaques showed that they enjoyed it and would wait to hear more,” said BBBP Executive Director Vanashri Vipin Singh. The zoo management guesses that Sundar’s keeper might have scratched his ear with a twig, which he found soothing and is now trying it out himself.
It could also be that Sundar did this accidentally once and now finds it comforting. The experts are also of the opinion that the tusker could have seen someone doing the same and is replicating it. The management is monitoring his behaviour even more closely and looking for psychologists to help analyse his act.