Elephant bull battles to breathe: Video
Published by Wildcaster 1 year, 11 months ago Tags: adventure, africa, animal kingdom, blogumentary, buffalo, bush knowledge, cites, conservation, documentary, ecotraining, education, elephants, endangered species, flickr, giraffe, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, IUCN Red List, lions, malilangwe, mashable, narrowcasting, Open Content Alliance, pamushana, peace parks, photos, podcasting, polls, predators, teach, video, wild dogs, wildcasting, wildlife, wildlife documentary, youtube, zimbabwe.I spent much of my morning running around looking for elephants and lions. And didn’t even bother with wild dogs as I know, all I’ll see is their ears sticking above the grass if I’m lucky.
I eventually picked up on some elephant bulls on the Mahande right where the bull had charged me the other day and then went on to chase buffalo around. Well the buffalo were here again today wallowing in a pan but not being harassed by the elephant.
Although after being there some, a young bull decided to have some fun and scattered the buffalo.
My friend Snorkel - When I first saw the bull, he was standing with his trunk resting on his tusk and his head hanging to one side. He didn’t look well. Or at least his posture said so. I noticed when he was feeding he would take a few mouthfuls then rest his trunk again on his tusk. He kept doing this. A little while later he started lifting his head and breathing through his mouth, and even this with difficulty.
But sometimes he would still breathe through his trunk. He would stop in mid stride of feeding, curl the tip of his trunk inwards and breathe with difficulty.
Maybe he has some sort of sinusitis that’s blocking his nasal cavity.
His problem was slowing him down when eating and he tended to only feed on grass and creepers. A couple of times he tried to feed off trees but soon gave up on them. Were they too much hard work for him to deal with at this time?
I’ve known this guy for sometime as he’s always had a breathing problem, but now it’s really bad. Will it get worse?
In the end I too had to limp home. The elephant and buffalo footprints in the now dry clay has left might holes that have eventually taken their toll on my vehicle and broken a spring. So guess what my task first thing in the morning is?
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I feel so bad for Snorkel, the elephant with the breathing problem. I have emphysema so I know how he feels. About how old is he?
I think he’s about 20. Still young. Want to see if I can pick up him tomorrow to see how he’s doing.
Kim how much do the park rangers get involved with the sick or ill animal? You had said there was thought of helping out little Chipfongwe with his foot. Luckily it didnt need to be done. But when and how do the rangers help out the animals? Are there any wildlife veternarians there on the reserve?
How long have you been aware of this particular elephant having this problem? Is it just in the past few months or much longer? Does heart disease hit very often in the elephants? If he gets out of breath eating or walking he could have congestive heart failure. Or I suppose a parasite could be causing a problem. If it keeps up I would think he would eventually starve because he couldn’t eat enough. Very sad.
Paula
I, like Paige, too wonder if there is ever human intervention when an animal is ill or hurt.
You had mentioned that Snorkle may have a blockage in his trunk. Could that be helped by human intervention, and if so, would that ever happen, or is the reserve kept as close as possible to the wild and the “survival of the fittest”?
I’ve known this guy to be in this condition for over a month. He’s in really good condition. So up until now, he’s been doing okay. But this new breathing problem could just make it all worse. There is a veterinary drugs course taking place here on Malilangwe in about a weeks time. This could well be a good case study for them AND for Snorkel.
Can you tell us what has become of Snorkel? Did he survive his breathing problem?
He got over his breathing problem. Not sure what it was but he now seems fine.