Self-grooming when grooming is inappropriate, or plucking at vegetation, as if foraging, but may not actually ingest any of the material. If the elephant does eat, it does so in a desultory or distracted fashion, may slap vegetation against foot or other part of own body and then drop it. May include throwing dust/grass/etc. onto self. Displacement-Behavior is typically given in conflict situations.
Mabenzi matriarch, Provocadora, gf0012, is aware of us and is Standing-Tall. She seemingly begins to feed on grass, though she doesn't appear to eat - and all the while she is paying attention to us, contemplating her next move. She raises her trunk as if to do a Periscope-Trunk but then appears to use her trunk to rub her ear in an act of Displacement-Grooming. She continues to contemplate us. This behavior occurs just before she initiates a Perpendicular-Walk and a Group-Advance. (Gorongosa, Mozambique)
