iStockphoto / Gilitukha
Living halfway across the world, it is hard for me to imagine a bull elephant coming face to face with a majestic Royal Bengal tiger at a watering hole in India.
Thankfully, we live in a Golden Age of technology and we’re able to live vicariously through videos filmed thousands of miles away like the one below.
In this rare encounter, a bull elephant is having a drink at the local watering hole in India when a stunning Bengal tiger saunters by. The elephant, normally docile and serene, decides the watering hole isn’t big enough for the of them and begins to posture.
Tigers and elephants tolerate each other fairly well in the wild.
But at times gentle giant shows who the boss is😊You can hear mobile calls in the background. Disgusting. Should mobiles be banned in side the Protected areas ? pic.twitter.com/7xWQAsfmbB
— Susanta Nanda (@susantananda3) June 13, 2023
The video was shared on Twitter by Susanta Nanda who, in the caption, questions if cellphones should be allowed in ‘protected areas’ of India.
This is because, as I’m sure you know, there are cellphones beeping and ringing in the background while the elephant chases off the tiger. And the incongruous nature of watching an elephant chase a tiger while hearing cellphones buzzing, well, that’s not exactly a picture of pristine nature.
Nevertheless, it is very special to see these two creatures interact so shout out to Pete Thomas at FTW for sharing this clip.
As for the rarity of these two species in the wild, there are an estimated 27,312 Asian elephants in India which represents over half of the estimated global population of Asian elephants (50,000).
Bengal tiger numbers have seen a boost in India in recent years. In 2006, there were an estimated 1,411 of them in the wild in India. There are now an estimated 2,976 tigers throughout the country according to Down To Earth.