Karnataka's 'smoking' elephant scorches internet, baffles wildlife experts
Apparently, smoking is not limited to human beings alone. This wild Asian female elephant's 'smoking' has taken the Internet by storm and has left wildlife experts baffled. In the video shot in Karnataka's Nagarahole National Park, the jumbo can be seen blowing out ashes after sniffing charcoal. The video, though shot in 2016, got released recently and has already garnered nearly 3, 81,000 views.
'It is an incredibly unusual behavior exhibited by her'
In the 48-seconds video, the female elephant can be seen picking up charcoal and then blowing out the ashes, giving an impression of her smoking. The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) that shot it said that it is an incredibly unusual behavior exhibited by her.
'Elephant standing not unusual, what she did was'
The WCS team comprising Vinay Kumar, Assistant Director, WCS-India, his colleague Srikanth Rao and three others were surveying camera-traps for long term monitoring of tiger and prey populations in the forest. That was when Vinay spotted the elephant "doing something that I had never witnessed before," he shared. While others started clicking snaps, Vinay smartly recorded the jumbo blow out ash amid smoke.
But why would an elephant 'smoke' charcoal?
Senior scientist and elephant expert of WCS Dr Varun R Goswami gave a possible explanation. He said that the elephant was probably trying to pick up the wood charcoal from the burnt forest floor, blowing away the ashes. He added that wild animals are attracted to charcoal because of its recognized toxin-binding properties and also because it acts as a laxative.
