Using the trunk, tusks or feet to play with an object. The elephant may engage with man-made objects (such as paper, plastic, cushion, flip-flop, film-canister, an old sack) as well with a palm-frond, swamp vegetation, a clump of grass or a stick. The individual may pick up the object, pierce it on a tusk, mouth it, bite it, step on it, roll it under a foot, or wave it from side to side, or up and down. The elephant may place it, or throw it, onto its own head or back, or toss it somewhere on the ground, often behind, and focus attention on it in quiet Contemplation - only to retrieve it and begin to play with it once more.
Provocadora's 7-8 year old female offspring appears to place something in her mouth and then suck on it and her trunk and then extract it from her mouth and begin playing with it - swinging it around in her trunk. The light is not good, but close examination reveals something that could be a piece of wire or a vine or branchlet. (Gorongosa, Mozambique)
