Elephants and The Cheerleader Effect
by Meethil on October 30, 2011
“You see, the ‘cheerleader effect’ is a situation in which not-so-hot, or awesome, people who do not appear hot as individuals, seem hot when in a group. This is very common among cheerleaders. Hence the name — the cheerleader effect.”
Elephants are victims of the Cheerleader Effect. When spotted solo they don’t make for a fun or interesting sighting. A lone elephant will be in its own world — feeding, drinking, or travelling to a place where it can feed or drink. If he is not doing one of these three tasks, he is staring me down until I give up waiting for some action and move on in search of smaller, more interesting, less innocent prey.
If he is a tusker with great white teeth, I might spend a few extra minutes getting my exposure right — making sure his tusks shine white without blowing out the highlights in the photograph — all the while hoping that an ant will drive him wild and provoke him to uproot a tree. Ahh! What a photo-op that would make! Yet, this rarely happens.
An elephant herd is more entertaining. The variety of shapes, sizes, and actions keep my eyes rolling from one grey mountain to another.
It really saddens me to compare a jumbo — a symbol of wisdom — to a bimbo, but unfortunately, few other animals evoke this effect. For example, tigers (or tigresses for that matter) do not suffer from the cheerleader effect. One sleeping tiger is enough to keep me clicking all-safari-long. Whereas, a bunch of tigers will drive me berserk – not knowing which lens to use.
But a lone, stripe-less Asian Elephant, who is next only to the tiger on the list of endangered Indian mammals, does not have any such magical powers.
Elephants and The Cheerleader Effect
by Meethil on October 30, 2011
Elephants are victims of the Cheerleader Effect. When spotted solo they don’t make for a fun or interesting sighting. A lone elephant will be in its own world — feeding, drinking, or travelling to a place where it can feed or drink. If he is not doing one of these three tasks, he is staring me down until I give up waiting for some action and move on in search of smaller, more interesting, less innocent prey.
If he is a tusker with great white teeth, I might spend a few extra minutes getting my exposure right — making sure his tusks shine white without blowing out the highlights in the photograph — all the while hoping that an ant will drive him wild and provoke him to uproot a tree. Ahh! What a photo-op that would make! Yet, this rarely happens.
An elephant herd is more entertaining. The variety of shapes, sizes, and actions keep my eyes rolling from one grey mountain to another.
It really saddens me to compare a jumbo — a symbol of wisdom — to a bimbo, but unfortunately, few other animals evoke this effect. For example, tigers (or tigresses for that matter) do not suffer from the cheerleader effect. One sleeping tiger is enough to keep me clicking all-safari-long. Whereas, a bunch of tigers will drive me berserk – not knowing which lens to use.
But a lone, stripe-less Asian Elephant, who is next only to the tiger on the list of endangered Indian mammals, does not have any such magical powers.