18th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Natural World
In the Musth

A big Bornean Pygmy Elephant bull which, easily visible is in musth. The musth is the time when bulls produce a lot of reproductive hormons and therefore might become very aggressive. ADD: On search at the Kinabatangan River, I was lucky after a couple days to finding a big herd of elephants. At the beginning I could only make out females and youngsters but then this big male appeared, at this moment I would never have come to the idea of calling this animal a "pigmy elephant".

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 08.2019
Date Uploaded: 11.2020
Photo Location: Malaysia
Copyright: © Bernhard Schubert