Male elephants are known to be the largest land animal in the world, so it should come as no surprise that they might also have enormous hearts. Unfortunately, for officials at India's Nandankanan Zoological Park, one enormous male elephant's amorous feelings recently caused quite a ruckus when he just couldn't let his love for a specific female elephant go unrequited.
According to the Odisha Sun Times, the wild male snuck into the zoo from the neighboring Chandaka-Dampara Wildlife Sanctuary and proceeded to threaten three female elephants while setting his sights on an elephant named Heera. The zoo's two other female elephants, Prema and Basanti, attempted to protect Heera but were thwarted by the lovesick male elephant's advances as he broke the boundary wall of Hasti Vihar, Nandankanan's elephant sanctuary.
Staff at the zoo did their best to break up the melee (even resorting to using fire crackers to scare him away, according to India TV News), but when an elephant is in love, looking to mate, and has his laser-love-beams focused on a specific female, the best thing to do is probably just to get out of the way. He'll leave when he's ready. And that's exactly what he did.
After injuring Prema and Basanti, and then mating with Heera, the male elephant stuck around for a while watching his mate before finally retreating later that night. According to zoo officials, this is the first time a wild elephant has entered a zoo to mate with a female.
Lest you think zoo officials should have been able to break up the lovestruck pachyderms, keep in mind that male elephants can grow up to 13 feet tall and weigh up to 15,000 pounds, not to mention their tough skin and rock-hard tusks. Now add in the fact that this male elephant was likely in the midst of musth — a state of increased testosterone, in which they often become extremely aggressive — and you've got the perfect recipe for this pachyderm date for the ages.
Remember the old joke, "Where does an elephant sit?" Well, the answer is pretty funny, but it's also true: An elephant sits wherever he wants. Especially when he's in love!
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(Main photo: Tambako The Jaguar / Flickr)
