This is an event that was captured on Camera way back in November 2018.
https://www.chobegamelodge.com/mega-elephant-herd-crossing-chobe-river/
https://www.chobegamelodge.com/mega-elephant-herd-crossing-chobe-river/
Sunday, March 3, 2019
Wednesday, February 27, 2019
Poaching Of Kalahari Bush Elephants Is Rampant In Northern Botswana This is New
Check this article out.
You will be shocked to know that Botswana is going the way of Tanzania where Selous Game Reserve was emptied of its Iconic Herds by Notorious South East Asian Based Ivory Syndicates.
The Govt in Gaborone is indifferent about this as it literally cares a damn about its precious pachyderms and can only think of culling them to make way for Big Industries and Infra Structure in more ways than one.
This article from "The Conversation" is an eye opener in more ways than one for all Elephant Lovers.
Here it is.
https://theconversation.com/new-survey-raises-concerns-about-elephant-poaching-in-botswana-112432
This Second article from the BBC is even better. It talks about Carcasses of Poached Elephants in Northern Botswana.
I am crying for the Matriarchs and the Juveniles who are now at the mercy of these Vile Ivory Syndicates.
Here it is
"BOTSWANA ELEPHANT POACHING PROBLEM NO HOAX".
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-47321241
You will be shocked to know that Botswana is going the way of Tanzania where Selous Game Reserve was emptied of its Iconic Herds by Notorious South East Asian Based Ivory Syndicates.
The Govt in Gaborone is indifferent about this as it literally cares a damn about its precious pachyderms and can only think of culling them to make way for Big Industries and Infra Structure in more ways than one.
This article from "The Conversation" is an eye opener in more ways than one for all Elephant Lovers.
Here it is.
https://theconversation.com/new-survey-raises-concerns-about-elephant-poaching-in-botswana-112432
This Second article from the BBC is even better. It talks about Carcasses of Poached Elephants in Northern Botswana.
I am crying for the Matriarchs and the Juveniles who are now at the mercy of these Vile Ivory Syndicates.
Here it is
"BOTSWANA ELEPHANT POACHING PROBLEM NO HOAX".
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-47321241
An Interesting Article From The Wilds Of Africa
MY SUMMER VACATION -- TIME SPENT WITH THE WILD HERDS OF NAMIBIA
https://medium.com/stanford-magazine/volunteers-help-study-elephants-in-africa-58fe0205a001
https://medium.com/stanford-magazine/volunteers-help-study-elephants-in-africa-58fe0205a001
Sunday, February 24, 2019
Human Elephant Study At Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, Botswana
This Short Article is an excellent FYI.
http://www.wildernesstrust.com/portfolio/makgadikgadi-human-elephant-study/
http://www.wildernesstrust.com/portfolio/makgadikgadi-human-elephant-study/
Older Elephants Know The Best Ways With Regard To Outwitting Lions Who Hunt Them
In natural history films, lionesses are usually portrayed as the hunters of the pride, while male lions mope around under shady trees. But males are no layabouts – they’re effective killers in their own right, particularly when they target larger prey like elephants and buffalo. Aside from humans, lions are the only predators powerful enough to kill an elephant. The males, being 50% heavier than the females, are especially suited to the task. It typically takes seven lionesses to kill an elephant, but just two males could do the same.
Even a single male can overpower a young elephant. Between 1994 and 1997, Dereck Joubert found that the lions of Botswana’s Chobe National Park were getting better and better at hunting elephants. He wrote: “In one notable case, a single male lion ran at nearly full speed into the side of a 6-year-old male calf with sufficient force to collapse the elephant on its side.”
Male lions clearly pose a great threat, and older elephants know it. Karen McComb from the University of Sussex has found that older matriarchs – the females who lead elephant herds – are more aware of the threat posed by male lions. If they hear recordings of male roars, they’re more likely to usher their herd into a defensive formation. Their experience and leadership could save their followers’ lives. “Family units led by older matriarchs are going to be in a position to make better decisions about predatory threats, which is likely to enhance the fitness of individuals within the group,” says McComb.
When lions hunt elephants, they usually target youngsters or females, and they almost always attack from behind. They circle round a straggler, jump onto its back and flanks (out of way of the trunk), and drag it to the ground. The never go for a frontal assault, so elephants can thwart their attacks by bunching together. The calves go in the middle; the adults face outwards in a formidable defensive ring of tusks and trunks.
McComb studied 39 groups of elephants at Amboseli National Park, including hundreds of animals who are all individually known. Approaching the herds in vehicles, she played the recorded roars of lions – either one or three, and either all males or all females. She filmed their responses (and asked an independent colleague to confirm her interpretations).
McComb’s videos showed that, unsurprisingly, the elephants responded more strongly to the roars of three lions than the sound of a singleton. The matriarch was more likely to raise her head and ears, and the others were more likely to quickly draw towards her in a tight huddle. All of the herds reacted in the same way, but only those with older leaders (60 years or more) twigged to the greater danger posed by the fake male roars. They were more likely to draw together, they did so more quickly, and they were even more likely to aggressively mob the lions.
The older the matriarchs were, the more sensitive they and their group were to the sound of male lions. They didn’t react in the same way to lionesses, so it wasn’t that they were becoming generally more panicky in their dotage.. Instead, they had become better at discerning the most dangerous roars.
Why does age matter? Male and female lions do have distinct roars, but humans only started to recognise the differences when we used recording equipment and computer software. It’s not surprising that an elephant would need a lifetime of experience to learn these subtle cues.
McComb says that this is the first experiment to show that older matriarchs can help elephant groups to make better decisions in the face of predators. That’s not the only contribution they make. In 2001, McComb showed that groups with older leaders were better at telling the difference between the calls of familiar elephants and those of strangers, and reacting appropriately. In 2008, Charles Foley has suggested that groups with older matriarchs are more likely to survive through drought, because their leaders know how best to find scarce resources and avoid predators.
And in 2007, Lucy King found that matriarchs might even help their herds to avoid getting stung. King showed that elephants will run away if they hear the sound of bees. In her experiments, only one group of elephants didn’t run away when it heard recordings of buzzing. The group was unusually small and young – it had no matriarch and the eldest individual was a 20-year-old male. It could be that none of the three elephants in the group had been stung themselves, and without an experienced leader, they didn’t know the right response.
Studies like these show that matriarchs hold a unique role in elephant society, and that their loss would be particularly damaging. Unfortunately, being among the biggest individuals, matriarchs are often inviting targets for human rifles. It can take minutes for a poacher to rob a group of elephants of a lifetime of accumulated knowledge and experience.
Credits : National Geographic
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/phenomena/2011/03/15/older-elephants-know-the-best-anti-lion-moves/
Even a single male can overpower a young elephant. Between 1994 and 1997, Dereck Joubert found that the lions of Botswana’s Chobe National Park were getting better and better at hunting elephants. He wrote: “In one notable case, a single male lion ran at nearly full speed into the side of a 6-year-old male calf with sufficient force to collapse the elephant on its side.”
Male lions clearly pose a great threat, and older elephants know it. Karen McComb from the University of Sussex has found that older matriarchs – the females who lead elephant herds – are more aware of the threat posed by male lions. If they hear recordings of male roars, they’re more likely to usher their herd into a defensive formation. Their experience and leadership could save their followers’ lives. “Family units led by older matriarchs are going to be in a position to make better decisions about predatory threats, which is likely to enhance the fitness of individuals within the group,” says McComb.
When lions hunt elephants, they usually target youngsters or females, and they almost always attack from behind. They circle round a straggler, jump onto its back and flanks (out of way of the trunk), and drag it to the ground. The never go for a frontal assault, so elephants can thwart their attacks by bunching together. The calves go in the middle; the adults face outwards in a formidable defensive ring of tusks and trunks.
McComb studied 39 groups of elephants at Amboseli National Park, including hundreds of animals who are all individually known. Approaching the herds in vehicles, she played the recorded roars of lions – either one or three, and either all males or all females. She filmed their responses (and asked an independent colleague to confirm her interpretations).
McComb’s videos showed that, unsurprisingly, the elephants responded more strongly to the roars of three lions than the sound of a singleton. The matriarch was more likely to raise her head and ears, and the others were more likely to quickly draw towards her in a tight huddle. All of the herds reacted in the same way, but only those with older leaders (60 years or more) twigged to the greater danger posed by the fake male roars. They were more likely to draw together, they did so more quickly, and they were even more likely to aggressively mob the lions.
The older the matriarchs were, the more sensitive they and their group were to the sound of male lions. They didn’t react in the same way to lionesses, so it wasn’t that they were becoming generally more panicky in their dotage.. Instead, they had become better at discerning the most dangerous roars.
Why does age matter? Male and female lions do have distinct roars, but humans only started to recognise the differences when we used recording equipment and computer software. It’s not surprising that an elephant would need a lifetime of experience to learn these subtle cues.
McComb says that this is the first experiment to show that older matriarchs can help elephant groups to make better decisions in the face of predators. That’s not the only contribution they make. In 2001, McComb showed that groups with older leaders were better at telling the difference between the calls of familiar elephants and those of strangers, and reacting appropriately. In 2008, Charles Foley has suggested that groups with older matriarchs are more likely to survive through drought, because their leaders know how best to find scarce resources and avoid predators.
And in 2007, Lucy King found that matriarchs might even help their herds to avoid getting stung. King showed that elephants will run away if they hear the sound of bees. In her experiments, only one group of elephants didn’t run away when it heard recordings of buzzing. The group was unusually small and young – it had no matriarch and the eldest individual was a 20-year-old male. It could be that none of the three elephants in the group had been stung themselves, and without an experienced leader, they didn’t know the right response.
Studies like these show that matriarchs hold a unique role in elephant society, and that their loss would be particularly damaging. Unfortunately, being among the biggest individuals, matriarchs are often inviting targets for human rifles. It can take minutes for a poacher to rob a group of elephants of a lifetime of accumulated knowledge and experience.
Credits : National Geographic
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/phenomena/2011/03/15/older-elephants-know-the-best-anti-lion-moves/
Elephants Crave Companionship From Known and Unknown Friends
MOVING TO A new area can be a daunting experience, specially if you don’t know anyone. At first, you might cling to any friends who do live nearby but eventually, you meet new people and start to integrate. As it is with humans, so it is with elephants.
Noa Pinter-Wollman and colleagues from the University of California, Davis wanted to study how African elephants behave when they move to new environments. This happens quite naturally as elephants live in dynamic societies where small family groups continuously merge with, and separate from, each other. But they also face new territories with increasing regularity as human activity encroaches on their home ranges and forces them further afield, and as increasing conservation efforts lead to individuals being deliberately moved, or exchanged between zoos and wildlife parks.
Pinter-Wollman took advantage of just one such forced relocation to see how the animals would react. In September 2005, in an effort to reduce conflicts between humans and elephants, Kenya’s Wildlife Service moved 150 individuals from the Shimba Hills National Reserve to the Tsavo East National Park, some 160km away. They consisted of 20 groups of around 7 individuals each – mainly adult females and calves – and 20 independent males. Their new home was very different to their old one and Pinter-Wollman wanted to see how they reacted to it.
By identifying the immigrants through ties on their tails and numbers on their backs, she found that, at first, they elephants spent a lot of time with others. But they became socially segregated and would mostly interact with other migrants, largely to the exclusion of the local Tsavo elephants. Their amity wasn’t solely due to family, just familiarity – the newcomers would happily mix with other unrelated groups from their same home region. And the more the immigrants stuck together, the less likely they were to mingle with the locals.
Over time, things changed. A year later and the displaced elephants had become much less segregated, moving from a closed enclave into an integrated part of the social structure within their new home. But on the whole, they also became less sociable as time went by, with both new acquaintances and comrades from home.
This is the first study to look at how an animal’s desire for companionship changes depending on how well they know their environment. Pinter-Wollman says that the elephants’ behaviour suggests that in the face of unfamiliar ground, it pays them to associate with others so that they can learn from one another. Indeed, among the migrants, the most sociable ones were also in better health (although this could be because sick elephants are shunned). Over time, they become more familiar with their new stomping grounds and the need to socialise lessens.
The initial social segregation probably reflects the strong social ties that elephants have. While it would benefit the newcomers to learn about their new environment from the natives, that may not have been possible. On two anecdotal occasions, she saw the locals behaving aggressively towards the unfamiliar elephants in their midst. It’s behaviour that really seems all-too-human.
Credits : National Geographic
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/phenomena/2008/12/11/elephants-crave-companionship-in-unfamiliar-stomping-grounds/
Noa Pinter-Wollman and colleagues from the University of California, Davis wanted to study how African elephants behave when they move to new environments. This happens quite naturally as elephants live in dynamic societies where small family groups continuously merge with, and separate from, each other. But they also face new territories with increasing regularity as human activity encroaches on their home ranges and forces them further afield, and as increasing conservation efforts lead to individuals being deliberately moved, or exchanged between zoos and wildlife parks.
Pinter-Wollman took advantage of just one such forced relocation to see how the animals would react. In September 2005, in an effort to reduce conflicts between humans and elephants, Kenya’s Wildlife Service moved 150 individuals from the Shimba Hills National Reserve to the Tsavo East National Park, some 160km away. They consisted of 20 groups of around 7 individuals each – mainly adult females and calves – and 20 independent males. Their new home was very different to their old one and Pinter-Wollman wanted to see how they reacted to it.
By identifying the immigrants through ties on their tails and numbers on their backs, she found that, at first, they elephants spent a lot of time with others. But they became socially segregated and would mostly interact with other migrants, largely to the exclusion of the local Tsavo elephants. Their amity wasn’t solely due to family, just familiarity – the newcomers would happily mix with other unrelated groups from their same home region. And the more the immigrants stuck together, the less likely they were to mingle with the locals.
Over time, things changed. A year later and the displaced elephants had become much less segregated, moving from a closed enclave into an integrated part of the social structure within their new home. But on the whole, they also became less sociable as time went by, with both new acquaintances and comrades from home.
This is the first study to look at how an animal’s desire for companionship changes depending on how well they know their environment. Pinter-Wollman says that the elephants’ behaviour suggests that in the face of unfamiliar ground, it pays them to associate with others so that they can learn from one another. Indeed, among the migrants, the most sociable ones were also in better health (although this could be because sick elephants are shunned). Over time, they become more familiar with their new stomping grounds and the need to socialise lessens.
The initial social segregation probably reflects the strong social ties that elephants have. While it would benefit the newcomers to learn about their new environment from the natives, that may not have been possible. On two anecdotal occasions, she saw the locals behaving aggressively towards the unfamiliar elephants in their midst. It’s behaviour that really seems all-too-human.
Credits : National Geographic
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/phenomena/2008/12/11/elephants-crave-companionship-in-unfamiliar-stomping-grounds/
Saturday, February 23, 2019
The Natural Death Of An African Elephant
Excellent Article. From Getaway Magazine South Africa. They are the one stop Guide For DIY Safaris for the single person or for Families.
Here is the article.
The rapid rise of elephant deaths due to poaching in Africa make a tuskless carcass a familiar sight. Behind the protective boundaries of the Moremi Game Reserve, photographer Rory Bruins came across the remains of a bull elephant, dignified in death with its tusks in place.
The lives of elephants parallel those of humans in their socially aware nature, developmental stages of life, loyalty and friendships, life-long memories, and mourning of their dead. Culling operations – a controversial method of controlling elephant populations where they are most dense – have to be meticulously carried out so that the social dynamics of a herd are not knocked off track with the loss of a significant member. The death of an elephant in nature is the end of a long life, a large life, one with singular ecological importance and one that is lamented by herd members left behind.
These days, one of these huge, heart-felt deaths occurs every fifteen minutes in Africa. So unnatural and causing such destruction, the poaching of elephants for their ivory has reached an all-time high. The wild world of nature is brutal enough as it is, often leaving healthy animals banished, injured or dead in a fight for survival or dominance. Seeing an elephant die naturally, with its tusks intact and its remains feeding hungry carnivores, is something quite wonderful in today’s reality. These sightings were spotted in Botswana’s Moremi Game Reserve.
Elephants have few predators other than humans; the biggest natural threat being the lion, followed by hyenas, which target the young. There have been few of these attacks documented, and there is probably more evidence of elephants chasing lions, but when an elephant is taken down, it provides enough sustenance for not only the lion pride responsible for its death, but for lower level predators, scavengers and decomposers that wait their turn.
In life, elephants are integral to the ecosystem. They are the driving force in ‘bushveld maintenance’, keeping woodlands neatly trimmed, and where they tear down existing trees, they disperse new seeds in their faecal matter. Their dung provides for dung beetles, and (if alone and lost in the bush) it can provide for humans too. The amount of water an elephant drinks and its poor digestive system means that what goes in comes out in pretty much the same form. Enough water can be extracted from their fresh dung to sustain a thirsty (and open-minded!) traveller, while their sundried dung is a renowned fire-starter. Fallen trees (a result of elephants’ destructive feeding and social dominance behaviour) bring the green leaves from the tallest treetops down for the shorter browsing animals to feed on, like black rhino and various antelope. The natural decay of these fallen trees is decomposed and re-injected into the earth, while tiny ecosystems develop in the environments created in the perished trees.
After a lifetime of raising calves, imprinting on young bulls, teaching their descendants, moulding migration routes and impacting the earth like no other mammal could; elephants grow old, and their eroded teeth prevent them from feeding. At around 60 years old, the natural death of an elephant is one of starvation. Throughout life, these giants will have made their way through 6 sets of molars, which eventually stop replacing themselves and great old bulls and cows keep themselves hydrated for as long as their famished bodies can stand. Eventually, naturally, old elephants are too weak to fight off predators or they die quietly near a watering hole, before their bodies are taken by the hungry.
The concept of an ‘elephant graveyard’, illustrated in Disney’s The Lion King as a valley of elephant skeletons, has rather a sensible origin. It is common for elephants to make their way towards water in their dying days. Somewhere to keep cool and hydrated. Often elephants from the same herd, or in the same parks, will go to the same waterhole to die, and a collection of their bones in a riverbed or at a waterhole has become known as an ‘elephant graveyard’.
Elephants grow six sets of molars in their lifetime, which are worn down consistently from the bark and branches they eat. Once the last pair of molars has worn down, at around 60 years old, elephants die of starvation.
There are stories about elephants that revisit the grave sites of their dead ancestors, and it has been documented that herds passing the body of a deceased individual will pick up the bones and carry them for a while, or merely place a reassuring trunk onto the dead body, as if to acknowledge the death and pay respect. This sort of sincere reaction to familial passing only scrapes the surface of the deep reality of elephant emotions. Their impact on Africa is irreplaceable. Let us see them die with their ivory.
Credits : Sun Destinations Through Getaway Magazine South Africa
Here is the article.
The rapid rise of elephant deaths due to poaching in Africa make a tuskless carcass a familiar sight. Behind the protective boundaries of the Moremi Game Reserve, photographer Rory Bruins came across the remains of a bull elephant, dignified in death with its tusks in place.
The lives of elephants parallel those of humans in their socially aware nature, developmental stages of life, loyalty and friendships, life-long memories, and mourning of their dead. Culling operations – a controversial method of controlling elephant populations where they are most dense – have to be meticulously carried out so that the social dynamics of a herd are not knocked off track with the loss of a significant member. The death of an elephant in nature is the end of a long life, a large life, one with singular ecological importance and one that is lamented by herd members left behind.
These days, one of these huge, heart-felt deaths occurs every fifteen minutes in Africa. So unnatural and causing such destruction, the poaching of elephants for their ivory has reached an all-time high. The wild world of nature is brutal enough as it is, often leaving healthy animals banished, injured or dead in a fight for survival or dominance. Seeing an elephant die naturally, with its tusks intact and its remains feeding hungry carnivores, is something quite wonderful in today’s reality. These sightings were spotted in Botswana’s Moremi Game Reserve.
Elephants have few predators other than humans; the biggest natural threat being the lion, followed by hyenas, which target the young. There have been few of these attacks documented, and there is probably more evidence of elephants chasing lions, but when an elephant is taken down, it provides enough sustenance for not only the lion pride responsible for its death, but for lower level predators, scavengers and decomposers that wait their turn.
In life, elephants are integral to the ecosystem. They are the driving force in ‘bushveld maintenance’, keeping woodlands neatly trimmed, and where they tear down existing trees, they disperse new seeds in their faecal matter. Their dung provides for dung beetles, and (if alone and lost in the bush) it can provide for humans too. The amount of water an elephant drinks and its poor digestive system means that what goes in comes out in pretty much the same form. Enough water can be extracted from their fresh dung to sustain a thirsty (and open-minded!) traveller, while their sundried dung is a renowned fire-starter. Fallen trees (a result of elephants’ destructive feeding and social dominance behaviour) bring the green leaves from the tallest treetops down for the shorter browsing animals to feed on, like black rhino and various antelope. The natural decay of these fallen trees is decomposed and re-injected into the earth, while tiny ecosystems develop in the environments created in the perished trees.
After a lifetime of raising calves, imprinting on young bulls, teaching their descendants, moulding migration routes and impacting the earth like no other mammal could; elephants grow old, and their eroded teeth prevent them from feeding. At around 60 years old, the natural death of an elephant is one of starvation. Throughout life, these giants will have made their way through 6 sets of molars, which eventually stop replacing themselves and great old bulls and cows keep themselves hydrated for as long as their famished bodies can stand. Eventually, naturally, old elephants are too weak to fight off predators or they die quietly near a watering hole, before their bodies are taken by the hungry.
The concept of an ‘elephant graveyard’, illustrated in Disney’s The Lion King as a valley of elephant skeletons, has rather a sensible origin. It is common for elephants to make their way towards water in their dying days. Somewhere to keep cool and hydrated. Often elephants from the same herd, or in the same parks, will go to the same waterhole to die, and a collection of their bones in a riverbed or at a waterhole has become known as an ‘elephant graveyard’.
Elephants grow six sets of molars in their lifetime, which are worn down consistently from the bark and branches they eat. Once the last pair of molars has worn down, at around 60 years old, elephants die of starvation.
There are stories about elephants that revisit the grave sites of their dead ancestors, and it has been documented that herds passing the body of a deceased individual will pick up the bones and carry them for a while, or merely place a reassuring trunk onto the dead body, as if to acknowledge the death and pay respect. This sort of sincere reaction to familial passing only scrapes the surface of the deep reality of elephant emotions. Their impact on Africa is irreplaceable. Let us see them die with their ivory.
Credits : Sun Destinations Through Getaway Magazine South Africa
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