check the guys respiration rate as the critter approaches.....

Some people bungee jump and free-climb too...I am just not one of them.

+1

As one who loves irony, I cannot help pointing out that the guide, who is clearly an idiot, actually said this: ". . . lying in front of an elephant should not be attempted by idiots."

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Robinson:
As one who loves irony, I cannot help pointing out that the guide, who is clearly an idiot, actually said this: ". . . lying in front of an elephant should not be attempted by idiots."

Who else do you reckon he thinks is going to consider it?

quote:

Originally posted by Jefffive:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Michael Robinson:
As one who loves irony, I cannot help pointing out that the guide, who is clearly an idiot, actually said this: ". . . lying in front of an elephant should not be attempted by idiots

Who else do you reckon he thinks is going to consider it?

Only idiots would consider it! How many years experience did Johnny Uyss have before a cow ground him into the topsoil?

This is a case of knowing how to read an animal's body language. Is it flaring its ears, has it raised its head in a threatening posture, is it kicking up dust with its feet etc.

Only people with that kind of in depth knowledge of the animals can try such stunts.

The case of experienced people getting killed is usually a freak incident.

The case of idiots getting killed are 2 examples I know of from India. One was a British Tea executive who was out hunting with a friend (6.5 Mannlicher Schoenauer in hand) in the early 1960s and they came across a bull elephants. This Brit just threw his hat at the elephants to chase it away and it charged and killed him. My dad was Chief wildlife warden or District officer at that time.

The second example is all over the internet now - A guy got out of his safari vehicle and ran up to an elephant to take a selfie!. He was probably less than 30 meters. The elephant charged him and stomped him. His kids were screaming and crying. His wife jumped out and ran at the elephant and tried to chase it. She is lucky she did not get killed.

I know personally of 2 other incidents which were freak accidents. In the 1980s a very experienced Wildlife officer was killed by a young cow that was surprised at close range around a large tree. It just ran blindly and hit him with its trunk and that took his arm and shoulder off!

The second one was very close to home - my brother in law had a handyman in his factory which was located outside the city and he got killed on the road at night by a cow elephant with calf. The city had expanded to far that it was encroaching on ancient migration routs of the elephant herd.