Asian Elephant’s Eye Images from Mysore India

Ever imagined how the eye of a huge animal would look like? I was always curious about the small eyes of these huge elephants right from childhood. Often wondering why God made such a small eye for such a huge animal! I mean, there seemed no proportion to me.

Elephant’s Eye Images

I took these Indian elephant’s eye images in Mysore zoo, Karnataka. Actually I zoomed into the elephant’s eye just out of curiosity.

The elephant approached close to fence, may be say 20feet, my heart was beating fast, anytime it could turn and just walk away. I clicked and kept clicking with minor variations in the exposure of the lens. These are what I have.

Downloading the pictures of elephant’s eyes, for the first time I saw the long eyelashes that protect it from sand and debris. Elephant eyes measure 3.8 cm in diameter. Interesting humans have a smaller eye measuring 2.5cm. Eyesight for elephants ranges only 25 ft.

Their small eyes are compensated with their large ears. However the ears prevent them from being able to see much of what’s behind them.

The position and size of the head and neck is a sort of handicap. They have limited peripheral vision and add to that their poor eyesight. Elephants are born blind, their eyesight increases as they grow. In their initial years they depend a lot on their mothers for guidance.

Need I say their nose is too long. They rely more on sense of smell and hearing.

Check my post on Camel’s Eyes in Desert Camel Safari Jaisalmer

Elephant eyelashes images Elephant's Eye Images

Elephant's Eye Images

It is said that the elephant’s vision is quite poor and can see short distances between 10 to 20 meters. Elephants do not have a tear duct and ‘tears’ simply evaporate or run down the cheek. You can see that clearly in the picture.

Can you believe elephants are color blind! They can see blues and yellows, but cannot distinguish between reds and greens.

Elephants use their sense of vision and smell to tell the difference between people who pose a threat and those who do not. Only after taking a few shots I stood gazing at it and admiring it.

Another interesting story in this context is that pictures of elephant’s eye is revered and believed to ward off the evil eye in Gopalapuram mandal headquarters in West Godavari district. Every Friday there is a huge demand for the photo frames of the “elephant eye” at the weekly market. People believe in its effect and display the picture at the entrance of their houses, business establishments and stalls. They worship the elephant that is portrayed in the mythological stories and strongly believe that its eye will protect them from the ‘evil eye’.

Elephant Facts, do read: They are right tusked or left tusked?

Camera Settings:

Canon EOS 450D
Shooting Date/Time 8/15/2008 4:01:52 PM
Shooting Mode Manual Exposure
Focal length 171mm
ISO 1600
Exposure 1/160
F – stop 5.6

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elephant eye pictures mysore India

(This post was first written on Aug 19th 2008.)

Chamundeshwari Temple in Mysore, Karnataka
Visit to Big Banyan Tree of Bangalore

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