Coonoor: The sight of a stray wild elephant and a wild gaur moving together on the Katteri - Runnymede slopes near here, tells a strange tale of a friendly bonding between the two.
The animal duo is seen moving together and taking care of each other on the wooded slopes. Forest sources said that the wild elephant is a sub-adult which appears to have left its herd and lost track in the jungles.
It may have accidentally come across the wild guar in the jungle fringes, and seems to have struck a bond with it.
This bond helps the two animals to face challenges from predators and take care of each other's safety. It is pertinent to note that the gaur leads the elephant on the right path in the jungle fringes, sources said.Wildlife and Nature Conservation Trust, founder, N. Sadiq Ali, said that when the elephant is capable of reaching tree branches with its trunk to break it down for its fodder, the gaur follows it to eat the leaves which fall down on the floor. Since both are mutually benefited, bonding could have happened.
Stray jumbos and gaurs have been a problem to deal with in the hills here, since they often lead to man-animal conflict.
But in this case, the jumbo - guar pair trigger an element of excitement as they are often seen together moving into human settlements and tea gardens along the Katteri-Runnymede slopes on the Ooty - Coimbatore national highway. As both animals stray into husman settlements, this relationship helps them combat the threat from carnivores and even minimizes conflict with humans, he noted.
