Elephant Names & Photos,Famous Temple Elephants photos-Thrissur,Elephant Camps-Kerala

Hi friends...Pixelshots back with pictures of the most adorable and biggest animal on land..The Elephants.. The pictures of elephants posted below are all domesticated animals primarily under some Temples or under some persons who are interested in Elephants in Kerala...A rough assumption is that the state Kerala has more than 700 elephants in captivity.

The elephants here in Kerala are used mainly for festival possessions and also for moving Huge timbers in Saw Mills...The elephants are having a pet name for each and they are given their own dignity according to their looks and sizes..

The Elephant tuskers are counted for their Mighty looks than their beauty,..Hmm also can be said that Mightiness is the beauty.

The land of Kerala is a place of numerous celebrations throughout the year.Mostly these are religious temple ceremonies called as Poorams in Malayalam language...These big mammals the elephants are a part of Kerala's culture..

All the celebrations in Temples here in Kerala must have at least 3 or 4 elephants decorated with Gold plated ornaments like Nettipattom and Necklaces round their Neck. Most temples have some domestic elephants under them for purposes like these..

The Guruvayoor Temple of Kerala is having the largest number of domesticated elephants (more than 60 elephants) ,.. And the Lord Guruvayoorappan (Lord Krishna) is thus known as the owner of world's largest number of domesticated elephants..

Decorated Temple Elephants with Nettipattoms, Thidambu, Venchamarom etc in a Temple Festival

"Hey.. Are we having an Assembly or something!.hmm i don't like these little human creatures sitting over me and controlling me...."!!!!!!

Mighty Tuskers From a Pooram..This photo is from the peculiar Temple Celebrations of Kerala called Pooram or Ulsavam in Malayalam the language of kerala..Watch the ornamented elephants kept in discipline with mahouts sitting over them..

The celebrations or poorams like this in Kerala are much colourful and joyful with the presence of so many elephants and a background of Chendamelam (group of people playing drums standing together in an order).The golden ornament wore over the elephant's forehead is called as Nettipattom in Malayalam....

Usually poorams are so colourful festivals in Kerala with many decorated Elephants and men sitting over them waving colourful big umbrellas called mutthukudas in Malayalam...

Mahout and Tusker.Elephant Photographed from Thrissur District, Kerala

Tusker elephant Named 'Ithithanam'

The mightiness of an elephant is defined upon its tusk's length, shape, elephant's height and the length of its trunk...This photo is taken at some leisure time of the Elephant.. See he is feeding on palm leaves there...Usually these animals feeds on palm and coconut leaves..Devotees coming to temples often offer them with plantain fruits, jaggery etc..

Tusker in Temple

"Tusker named Guruvayoor Nandhan"

Again another elephant from the collection of greatest elephant collector.. Guruvayoorappan- the Lord Krishna...The temple of Guruvayoor once had the famous Elephant named Guruvayoor Keshavan who died some years ago and his death anniversary is still remembered and the Kesavan's statue is garlanded by Elephants gathered around on the day. There happened to be many movies and TV serials based on this Elephant named guruvayoor Keshavan...

Big Elephant, Big Tusks!

Named after the Lord itself.Elephant tusker named Guruvayoorappan.

You know, their are a set of defined concepts regarding the mightiness of an elephant.. The trunks should be of good length and bending downward and again bend upward reaching the tip, and the trunks must be parting apart towards the tip..
A good looking elephant must have a fleshy long trunk till the ground..His ears must be big, and should have a big forehead....Ohh thats all i could collect about it friends.. Infact am not a specialist in this subject...

Decorated Elephant Getting feeded

Elephant named Guruji Ayyappan

Watch the decorations done over the tusker.He is just ready for some temple celebration.. may be a pooram or posession..If you watch the back of the elephant carefully you can see a white brush like thing kept over near the mahout..Thats called a venchamaram which is used to wave in a particular manner by the mahout when the elephant is presented in the crowd..

In big poorams and possessions its a beauty to see so many venchamaroms and alavattoms (round disc like thing made of peacock feathers) waved together orderly by the people sitting over the elephants.

Temple Elephant Photographed at Night

Tusker Elephant Giresshan..

Seems a day after or before the Pooram in some temple... A number of elephants camped there na.Hey watch a little closer.. Can you see a long pole leaned on the right side of the elephant there. Can you guess what is that for? !

Hmm you may be familiar with hand brakes in vehicles... The pole leaned over the Elephant does the same! These animals are trained to stand dead still when a pole is leaned over them like that...These humans are little rascals na.. Trained a big animal to such a limit.

Wide  Big Tusks. Tusker wearing Nettipattom

Elephant named E Ayyappan

Hmm it appears like a good looking mighty elephant.. Some more Elephant facts regarding the looks are the elephant must be having raised head over his back body.. The legs should be in line and straight... Watch his evenly parted apart Tusks!!!

Its said that there should be the sound of ears hitting the body when waving.. and about the eyes....said that tey should be of honey colour, and a red one shows an aggressive elephant character...

In normal an Elephant has 18 nails.. Five each in the forelegs and four each in the back legs..But sometimes they may have 20 nails and its considered to be a good omen....

Elephant chained in the Backyard

Elephant named Chandrashekaran.

May be having some snacks on palm leaves..Looks like he watching the one taking his photo...

Kerala having elephants as a part of the state's culture and festivals...Anyway these animals the Asian Elephants are now termed under the threat of extinction for only a number lesser than 50,000 is now in the wild.. Poaching for ivory, illegal capturing of these elephants etc made these huge mammals on earth under extinction..

 ELEPHANT CAMPS in KERALA

Kerala has about 7 elephant conservation or protection spots called elephant camps, most of them situated in the most attractive tourist spots in Kerala.

• 1)Konni Elephant Camp- Pathanamthitta district...... About 10kms from pathanamthitta township.The attraction of this place is that this is one of the places where the elephants captured and rescued from dangers in the wild are given training..Huge cages of timber is used to keep the elephants. The main attraction on this place is that you may come across small elephant babies if visit this place.. The ones got separated from the elephant heard and washed away in flood currents are rescued and given training here.The place has a history of above 100 years and recently a project on eco tourism is launched here....

• 2)Kodanad- Ernakulam District......The place about 45 kms from Kochi is an elephant rescue centre and is over 50 year old.Its also an eco tourism spot and you can watch many baby elephants here too.The place offers tourists elephant safaris, and has a small zoo...I think it's worth a visit..

• 3)Muthanga wildlife sanctuary-Wayanadu District..Apart from the numerous tourist destinations in the district of wayanad, the sanctuary of wildlife here has the large number of asiatic elephants apart from other animals like spotted deer, tiger, leopards, wild cats, monkeys etc..

• 4)Nilambur-Malappuram district... About 70kms from calicut this scenic place is more famous for world's first 'Teak plantation' than elephant camp..Their is a Teak Museum there and the elephant camp is at Nedungayam..

• 5)Tholpetti- Wayanadu District... The place is unique for its bio diversity and you can have trekking and elephant safaris here...

• 6)Aryamkavu-Pathanamthitta district... A place which is attractive for its dense forests and waterfalls.. The very first eco-tourism project of India is near here at a place named Thenmala. you can have camping in forests for nights, hiking, trekking, cycling and many more through the forests here.. Many attractions for tourists like a Musical fountain, Aquariums, Sculpture parks etc are concentrated in this place and around as part of the tourism project..The Palaruvi waterfalls is just 5kms away from Aryankavu..

• 7)Thekkady-Idukki district..One of the 29 tiger reserves in India, named The Periyar Tiger Reserve.The vast lake in the catchment area of the Mullaperiyar dam has boating facility for tourists and gives you a good look through the forests and wild life near the shores.Elephant safari is provided for tourists.A must see place if you are once in kerala tour.

Courtesy to my friend Sreerag AS for the photographs. Photos are taken with Sony Cybershot DSC-S600 and Nokia 6120c...

Oh i think i went a little lengthy on words.. Anyway see you soon friends, with the continuation of Photos from Kerala.

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