TWO farmers in Anekal, a forested bit of the south Indian state of Karnataka, were in their fields this summer when a pair of cow elephants and a calf emerged from the trees.

THE world is used to big Indian firms planting flags in foreign fields.

The small Indian mongoose, reaching no more than a foot or two inheight, was originally brought to Puerto Rico and the Hawaiian islandsto protect sugar cane fields from rat and snake damage.