Plaikeow

When I came to Thailand for the first time, I was introduced to 2 baby elephants, a bull and a cow.
Plaikeow, the young bull was 5 years old and Sau, the female was 3 years old when I met them.
I became friends with Plaikeow's mahout and was subsequently introduced to the 3rd baby elephant, Beng, also a bull and only 2 years old. One day Beng's mahout was giving Beng a drink by placing the water hose in his mouth and I was placed on Beng's back. For baby elephant, we ride behind the middle of the back because the neck muscles are not yet developed enough to carry human weight.
All of a sudden Beng drops the hose, does a 180 degree turn with lightning speed and takes off full speed.
I've had horses bolt on me before, but nothing prepared me for the uncomfortable ride on a runaway baby elephant! At the time my thoughts were the same as when I was on a bolting horse. I had no ankus to control the baby...I wouldn't have known how to use it anyway. I had nothing! My only thoughts were, "just go with the flow of him and don't fall off!!! I closed my legs on him and grabbed hold of the chain around his neck, while he bolted some 500 meters before coming to a full stop. I turned to see the mahouts running after the elephant and when they reached where I was, I dismounted and Beng was chained to his usual tree.

Little did I know that on the other side of the field, a crowd had gathered and was watching this whole fiasco!! After chaining up Beng, I got in my jeep and me and the mahouts headed back to Sau and Plaikeow.
I had to pass this crowd and was greeted with "Yeh, good jockey!"
That was my official welcome to the elephant world!

Now Plaikow's mahout thinks to himself, "yep, you're for real" and before I knew it, I was playing football on Plaikoew's back during the elephant show!!!
My relationship with Plaikeow thrived, which is most unusual because generally bulls don't like women.
I would drive up to the theatre where he performed, loaded with bananas. The mahout would unchain him and he would promptly come to the jeep and check it out. The enclosed video is an example of how elephants check things out. They smell, then blow the scent back into their mouth where glands then send the information back to the brain.

One day I went with the mahout into the jungle to get Plaikeow. Two of us were riding him. Suddenly Plaikeow ignored all commands by the mahout and headed towards a hilly area where he picked up a large ripe jackfruit. His mahout insisted that he hand over the goods, but Plaikeow made several loud vocal complaints before raising his trunk to show us the jackfruit he had obtained. He was not about to hand it over! Promptly shoving the whole fruit into his mouth, he walked to the show area like a fat cat.

It was always easy to read Plaikeow's moods when we got him from the jungle. When he was happy, his gait was smooth as silk. When he was in a bad mood, whether he showed it or not, he had a very choppy uncomfortable gait that kinda went clonk, clonk, clonk.....
I mean very uncomfortable.

Now let me elaborate a bit on the "ankus" used to control elephants. Bear with me a bit, because the ankus has got to be one of the most misinterpreted tools around. Most people see it as a lethal weapon. While this can be true, that is not it's intent. You could compare it to a bit in a horse's mouth. One only applies enough pressure to get a desired reaction, the same as the rider of a horse would, using the reigns connected to the bit in the horse's mouth to control a horse. The tip of the ankus must be sharp, otherwise the animal would have no respect for it. Think of an average 80 kg human being trying to control 5 tons!
The elephant's skin is not nearly as thick and insensitive as most people think. An experienced mahout rarely leaves marks of injury on his elephants head. If such injuries occur, it's because a quick sharp reaction was required in a particular situation. For example, the elephant is crossing the road and a car is speeding towards that elephant. To prevent an accident, quick reaction is required by both elephant and mahout.