Skilled Safari Jeep Driver Narrowly Evades an Enraged Elephant Charging Down the Road

When you weigh up to 12,000 pounds and reach up to 10 feet tall to your shoulder, you don’t need to be intimidated by a safari jeep! In this clip, the Sri Lankan elephants are showing a group of tourists who are in charge of this territory. Luckily, the jeep drivers are experienced and are probably used to dealing with this sort of road hazard. They expertly steer out of the way of the charging elephant, and nobody gets hurt. Scroll down to see an unusual cause of road congestion!

What Do Sri Lankan Elephants Look Like?

The scientific name for Sri Lankan elephants is Elephant maximus maximus. They are a subspecies of the Asian elephant and can be over 21 feet long. Asian elephants have smaller ears than African elephants but have the typical small elephant eyes. These guys are also generally smaller than African elephants and their back is more convex or level than in their African cousins. The Sri Lankan elephant is the largest of all of the Asian elephants.

Where Do Elephants Normally Live?

As their name suggests, Sri Lankan elephants live on the Asian island of Sri Lanka. They favor tropical and subtropical broadleaf forests. These elephants also move seasonally around their range and are often found along rivers during the dry months. In Sri Lanka in particular, they can be found in dry, deciduous woodlands, as well as in marshes. You can also spot them in scrublands and grasslands. There is also a small population who reside in the rainforest.

How Do They Normally Behave?

Studies have shown that Asian elephants spend over 90 percent of their time eating! They spend just over five percent of their day walking and the rest is made up of resting, bathing, drinking, and other things that elephants do! They are very social animals who have complex relationships that we are still learning about. We know that they are highly intelligent animals and have shown empathetic behavior as well as the ability to solve problems and use tools.

Female elephants live in herds that are led by a matriarch elephant – she is normally the eldest female of the group. There are usually between eight and 12 females in a herd and their life revolves around raising their calves. Teenage males have to leave the herd and often form a group of bachelors. In contrast, adult males tend to live by themselves and only join the herd for mating.

Most of the time, they ignore other species but if they find them threatening then they will see them off. This group of elephants doesn’t like safari jeeps!

Watch the Incredible Clip Below

The photo featured at the top of this post is © Kalana Premawardana/Shutterstock.com