Whoever says bull elephants aren’t graceful hasn’t witnessed this particular elephant!

At first glance it may look like this African elephant was possibly performing his graceful moves á la the ballet or practicing poses he mastered inside a yoga studio. But as wildlife photographers Michelle Broadhurst & Jacques Joubert (their website is Wings2Tusks ) explain, those swinging stretches of his back leg were not exercise-related at all, as they have noticed this same behavior before.  (See photos & watch video here at The Daily Mail.)

Whenever “a rather large or aged elephant is confronted by” an obstacle, such as “a rather steep incline or decline in his pathway …that it is a bit of a challenge to negotiate,” they must ultimately confront this challenge “and that is not an elephants favourite activity,” at all.

They inferred that the elephant, having no “other way out” of his situation, as he was “semi boxed in by the vehicles in the area,” would have rather taken a different path out than the one he was on. But knowing his options were limited the elephant paused for a moment, maneuvering his leg in anticipation, then soldiered on; indifferent to the traffic jam he had just created!

Watch video here at The Daily Mail.

Resource:  “The perfect place for a stretch! Elephant holds up traffic to do his morning exercises in amazing video” by Charlotte Dean for MailOnline at The Daily Mail

Image CC Flickr: postage stamp elephant South Africa posted by mark morgan trinidad a

Image:  CC Flickr : postage stamp elephant South Africa

Wings2Tusks:   Michelle Broadhurst & Jacques Joubert  wildlife photographers’ website