Wildlife Encounters in the Forests

By Ethan Pang

Wild Elephant Encounter

Do's

1. Smell the elephant. The elephants’ urine smell like licorice while the elephant’s dung doesn’t have a particularly pungent smell and is less offensive than the average insect repellent. Be alerted and make loud noise when you smell the scent to warn the elephant.
2. Listen to sounds and steps of the elephants. Elephant may make the trumpet sound when it is in distress – take it as a soft warning. Retreat to campsite cautiously.
3. Observe any branch movements that are at least 100 m distance away from you. Prepare to run away.
4. When you think the elephants are very close, hide behind a big tree with buttress, bamboo bush, etc. Make sure you do that before the elephants see you.
5. If the elephant can see you, move backwards slowly and stay calm. Animals sense and react to our emotions.
6. If the elephant is charging at you, quickly determine whether it is one of the following: – mock charge: ears are relaxed or fanned out; trunk twitching; legs swinging to and fro (displacement activities); back off slowly and stay calm. – real charge: ears are pinned back and the trunk is curled up tightly; could attacks by trampling its victim with feet or knees, (male: by pinning target to the ground with its tusks)
7. If the elephant charges at you for real: – Immediately rush downhill, run zig-zag to outrun the elephant – Hide in a big tree, behind bamboo; elephants have poor vision and are color blind. – If you can’t hide, make a lot of noise like rattling bags, shaking the trees, shouting, etc. This may stop the elephant from charging towards you. – Only climb a tree if the tree is big enough and you are confident with it. – Do not jump into the river. Elephants are excellent swimmers. – Throw a decoy – bag, hats, etc – If possible staying downwind of the elephant. Elephants have a keen sense of smell. For staying downwind, this will make it difficult for the elephant to detect you, making escape easier.

For more info, click this link: https://www.wikihow.com/Survive-a-Charging-Elephant

Don'ts

1. Panic.
2. Run when you think elephants can see you but doesn’t charge you
3. Provoke the elephants
  FYI: Elephants can run up to 35-40 km/h while humans can run up to 37 km/h only. Females with calves are at all times dangerous to approach.

For more info, click on this link: https://www.wikihow.com/Survive-a-Charging-Elephant

Tiger Encounter

Tigers usually avoid direct confrontation. They stalk their prey for a long time and ambush from either the side or the back. They also stay upwind (against the wind) to conceal their scent from their prey. Since humans are not a part of their usual diet, they usually don’t attack humans. Most tiger attacks on humans are done by old and weak tigers, or tigers which have lost their teeth and can’t hunt their usual prey efficiently and hence, are forced to look for easy targets. Tiger attacks can also happen when a human comes too close to a tiger when it is eating, especially if it is a tigress with cubs. Whenever possible, avoid areas where a tiger may be present. If you ever find yourself in proximity with a tiger without an adequate barrier, immediately recognize that you are in danger. Take the following steps to reduce the chances of a tiger attack, and know what to do if the tiger does attack:

Surviving An Actual Tiger Attack

1. NEVER SHOW YOUR BACK – face the tiger!
2. Try to remain calm and back away slowly.
3. Make yourself big.
4. Repel an attacking tiger with noise.
5. Do whatever you can to survive – cover your neck!

Encountering A Tiger That May Attack

1. NEVER SHOW YOUR BACK.
2. AVOID approaching an escaped tiger.
3. Attempt to distract the tiger and hide.
4. DO NOT provoke a tiger in any way.
5. LEAVE cubs alone.

Wildlife Encounters in the Forests

By Ethan Pang

Wildlife Encounters

Wild Elephant Encounter

For more info, click on this link: https://www.wikihow.com/Survive-a-Charging-Elephant

Tiger Encounter

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