Circus is in Town

UPDATE... Due to the fact that many also felt that Elephants are entitled to their tusks, and I just couldn't bare to look at the toothless image, I altered the picture into the way it SHOULD have been. posted: august 6th

RECTIFICATION... A mail message I received from a friend in NYC:

FYI... Female Asian elephants usually lack tusks; if tusks - in that case called "tushes" - are present, they are barely visible, and only seen when they open the mouth. The namel plate of the molars are greater in number and closer together in Asian elephants. Some males may also lack tusks; these individuals are called "filsy makhnas", and are especially common among the Sri Lankan elephant population. Furthermore, the forehead has two hemispherical bulges, unlike the flat front of the African elephant. Unlike African elephants which rarely use their forefeet for anything other than digging or scraping soil, Asian elephants are more agile at using their feet in conjunction with the trunk for manipulating objects. They can sometimes be known for their violent behavior.

And I assume they were all female, since they're much easier to train and handle than the males, so imho they most likely never had tusks - some nice pics again btw

LoVe
c

EPITAPH... Although incorrect, I'll leave the altered picture with tusks, for it feels more natural to me.
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Cycling through the city I spotted these three elephants grazing freely in our Central Park 'Het Malieveld'

Circus Renz is back in town and were building up their tents & enthourage. In the meantime these impressive land mammals interacted with the few people who - like me - were taking pictures of this surprise Meet & Greet at very close range, only to be separated by a thin rope.

For those who don't know; I grew up in the African jungle so I'm not afraid of these ancestors of the extinct mammoth and went closer than most others, the curious elephants also came closer to inspect my constant flashing camera.

By the way, these are Asian elephants as they have considerable smaller ears than the African ones. I also noticed their huge ivory tusks had been pulled out which I consider revolting.

Even at a Zoo it's impossible to come this close that you can feel the breath on your wide angle lense. A unique photo opportunity in the urban jungle of downtown The Hague.

Background info:

Circus Renz was a German circus established in 1842 in Berlin by Ernst Jacob Renz (1815-1892) as Circus Olympic and existed until 1897. The company had several stationary buildings in Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen and Vienna.

Today several circus companies in Germany and Holland make use of the family name Renz. This one is celebrating their 170th year of existence with a jubilee shoy called 'Il Circo Tradizionale'