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  3. Rubbing

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Rubbing

Rubbing the head, ears, legs or body against a tree trunk, log, stump or boulder, or on another elephant, often after Mud-Wallowing or Mud-Splashing. Musth males use Rubbing to mark a tree or the ground (when mud wallowing) with Temporal-Gland-Secretion and as a visual display. Rubbing may be so vigorous that the male departs with bark and debris on the side of his face. Dissected temporal glands have been found to have pieces of bark embedded deep inside them.

Media caption

Viajante, who acts as if he is in musth, Rub on a tree and then continues on his way. (Gorongosa, Mozambique)

Other examples of the behavior