Watch: This elephant's 'smoking habit' in Nagarhole National Park has left experts baffled

A short video clip of a ‘smoking’ wild elephant from Nagarahole National Park,Karnataka has not only left experts across the globe baffled, but has also demonstrated how little we know about these gentle giants. Before you get any wild ideas about Elephant’s smoking- the video shows the mammoth ingesting charcoal and blowing out the ashes giving it a feel of smoke.

The video, which is the first known video-documentation of a wild elephant exhibiting such behaviour was taken by Vinay Kumar, Assistant Director, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), India Program in April 2016. It was recently shared and became the talking point amongst elephant experts, conservationists and wildlife enthusiast as it provides a new insight into wild elephant behaviour.

Interestingly Kumar and his colleague Shrikanth Rao were in Nagarhole as part of a long-term project of studying tiger and prey population. “We had just entered a partially burnt patch of the moist deciduous forests, when we suddenly came face to face with a female elephant standing calmly on the side of the road. This was not an unusual sighting, but what we saw her doing was something that I had never witnessed before, and it has probably not been commonly captured on film earlier either,” states Kumar.

As per Kumar what they saw that day almost appeared like elephant was smoking – she would draw up a trunk full of ash close to her mouth and blow it out in a puff of smoke. “As cameras clicked, I switched on to the video mode and filmed what would be an amazing sight to behold, and a behaviour that has had experts trying to decipher the exact nature of the action,” he shares on his blog.

Explaining what could possibly have been the happening, Dr Varun R Goswami, Elephant biologist and senior scientist with WCS India Program shared that most probably, the elephant was trying to ingest wood charcoal, as she appeared to be picking up something from the burnt forest floor, blowing away the ash that came along with it in her trunk, and consuming the rest.

“Charcoal has well recognised toxin-binding properties, and although it may not have much nutritional content, wild animals may be attracted to it for this medicinal value. Charcoal can also serve as a laxative, thereby doubling its utility for animals that consume it after forest fires, lightning strikes, or controlled burns,” he explained.

Meanwhile, biologists who have been studying elephants said that while it's thought that a lot of aspects about these creatures are known, the fact remains that there is so much about them, which is still unknown and only long-term in-depth study and monitoring will help. “Unfortunately we are a country obsessed with tigers and even biologists working in premier institutes know that any study on tiger will get them better chance of funding and quick approval  from forest department and hence the focus on several key species like elephants and rhino is completely missing and very little is known about them,” said a biologist adding that he hoped that this video not only increases the interest of researchers but also that of Forest department.