Pygmy Elephant Encounter in Danum Valley

scubazooBlog

October saw senior cameraman and Scubazoo operations director Simon Enderby heading into the tropical rain forests surrounding the Danum Valley Field Centre on Sabah’s East coast to film an international contingent taking part in the Tropical Biology Association’s Borneo field course. Over the course of the month 24 graduates, postgraduates and NGO officers from 18 different countries work together on group and paired field projects in and around the DVFC.

During the course of the filming Simon happened upon an adolescent Borneo pygmy elephant (Elephas maximus borneensis) which was throwing a temper tantrum at being recently expelled from the herd. With no bedroom door to slam, the unhappy adolescent vented its anger by throwing logs and rampaging along the river bank, finally coming to within a few feet of Simon and his video camera before resignedly marching off into the thick forest.

The final edited film will be used to showcase the courses run by the TBA and will be finished by early 2011. Watch some of the angry Borneo pygmy elephant footage in the YouTube clip below.