Elephant Insight

A little one-on-one about Elephants

2013-02-09T22:41:00.000-08:00

Removing Tusks
We are often asked: why not saw off the tusks of elephants in order to save them from poachers?

Cynthia Moss explains why:

There are many compelling reasons why it would not be practical, economical or ethical to immobilize every elephant to cut off its tusks.

• It's logistically difficult. Many elephants live in remote areas, hard to reach and work in. Darting is difficult and dangerous to both the elephants and the veterinarian team.

• It's numerically impossible. In Kenya alone there are 37,000 elephants. Both male and female African elephants over 2 1/2 years old have tusks, say 30,000 individuals with some ivory. Even if you could immobilise at the world-record rate of 5 a day (which ATE did once in 2011!), the operation would take some 15 years of full-time work. And by that time, the first elephant would have re-grown meter-long tusks!

• It's expensive. Even if teams of vets and rangers could reach all the elephants, the cost of the exercise would be prohibitive. Among other things the drug is costly and difficult to obtain.

• It would be painful. There is a nerve that runs well down the length of an elephant's tusk. Cutting the tusk off would be painful, similar to you breaking a tooth. Remember that an elephant tusk is a modified incisor. Cutting beyond the nerve would still leave a third of the tusk in place.

• Finally, elephants need their tusks for feeding and digging and for defending themselves and their calves from predators.

Amboseli Trust for Elephants

Bad news on the Ivory front....spelt out!

2012-06-11T02:39:00.000-07:00

Elephant Ivory sales creating ''Deadly New Currency in China''
PANA
In a world of economic uncertainty, elephant ivory has become a new investment vehicle in China, sparking an extraordinary surge in the number of elephants being killed for their ivory.

A new ivory market investigation report by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) shows that the legal sale of ivory stockpiles in 2008 has spurred the demand for ivory, particularly in China where ivory is increasingly coveted by wealthy Chinese as “white gold”.

“Elephant ivory has, in a manner of speaking, become a new currency in China,” said Grace Gabriel, Asia Regional Director for IFAW. “The escalating demand has sent the price of ivory soaring. Couple that with the strengthening of the Chinese Yuan (RMB) against an ailing US\$ dollar and suddenly, buying illegal ivory in Africa and selling it at a huge profit in China becomes an extremely lucrative business.”

IFAW says the blame lies firmly at the door of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) which, in 2008, gave the go ahead for the legal sale of ivory stockpiles by four southern African countries to China and Japan.

Since 2009 when China took delivery of its purchase, the market for ivory in that country - legally traded or not - has spiralled. Worldwide seizures of illegal ivory have matched the trend with the media reporting that 5,259 ivory tusks (a whopping 23 tons) were confiscated in 2011 alone.

The Chinese regulatory system, introduced in 2004, and intended to strictly control the domestic ivory market in line with CITES required conditions, has been rendered virtually impotent against the demand for ivory.

“Of the 158 ivory trade facilities visited in five cities by Chinese experts, 101 did not have government issued licenses and were operating illegally. Among licensed facilities the majority abused the ivory control system in some way,” said Gabriel, “The illicit ivory trading activities in both unlicensed and licensed but non-compliant facilities, outnumbered properly legal ones nearly six to one (135/23)”.

IFAW’s 2011 survey (the fifth in Asia in 10 years) shows clearly how illegal ivory, once smuggled into China, is easily laundered through the legal market. The report also sheds light on the strong economic incentive for Chinese engaging in ivory trafficking.

While the wholesale price per kilogramme of ivory in RMB has tripled (¥4,500-¥15,000) from 2006 to 2011, the RMB is increasing in value against the USD. In the overseas market where ivory is sourced, the strengthened Chinese currency provides more purchasing power to Chinese buyers who convert RMB to USD for ivory purchases.

This, coupled with the ease with which smuggled ivory can be easily laundered in the legal market, means huge profits for criminals involved in illegal ivory trade.

“The CITES stockpile sales were supposed to reduce the illegal trade and the slaughter of elephants by saturating the market with legal ivory; in fact, the exact opposite has occurred,” said Gabriel.

“Legal ivory imports have provided opportunities for illegal ivory to be whitewashed in China; the insatiable demand for ivory as an investment has tripled the wholesale price of ivory; and currencies in flux have mixed to create a lethal combination that is decimating wild elephant populations,” she said.

Founded in 1969, IFAW saves animals in crisis around the world. With projects in more than 40 countries, IFAW rescues individual animals, works to prevent cruelty to animals and advocates for the protection of wildlife and habitats.

http://www.africanmanager.com/site_eng/detail_article.php?art_id=18506

Elephant Art

2012-03-29T02:55:00.002-07:00

Introducing a new artist with a passion for Elephants!!

Karim Kara is a Kenyan born and bred, self taught, independent filmmaker and photographer. He, as a teen, was passionate about nature and the environment, which later led him to pursue and study ornithology. Following that knowledge gained, he consulted as an Ornithologist for Lafarge Ecosystems International.

Ever since he was 13 years old, his beating heart began taking wildlife pictures and slowly moved on to corporate and commercial photography & films. That later led to the birth of his little media company; Megapixels Productions.

Karim Kara has produced several short films and teasers for organizations, one which includes a film on the African Fish Eagle which was used as a plea for funding, for further research by The Peregrine Fund. Another being a full length anthropological documentary with The Colorado State University on The Maasai's Perspectives on Climate Change.

His heart still beats very strongly for the wildlife & conservation world and whenever his time allows he is out in the bush with his most favorite 'models'.

He uses his photography as a vehicle to educate people and to raise awareness about the dire situation that the animals, especially the Elephants, face in the ever so fast changing environment in Kenya.

A little while ago he was able to sit and observe these gentle giants from a very special secluded spot a few years ago, that now no longer exists. All these things combined make it a very personal, passionate calling for him and it shows in his photographs.

Most recently (2012) he was awarded Second Prize in the Film Category on Climate Change, for a contest held by The World Bank.

http://www.kenyatravelideas.com/karim-kara.html

Summit for the Elephants 2012

2012-03-22T05:44:00.002-07:00

I know it is a bit of a short notice, but nevertheless. Please take a look and if you can, GO!!

The line up of speakers is fantastic and the news and updates you will hear and learn about will be incredible, in short, PRICELESS!!!

It is hosted at the Oakland Zoo
Location: Oakland Zoo
Maddie’s Center/Zimmer Auditorium, on the first floor
9777 Golf Links Road, Oakland, CA

March 28, 29, 30
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily
$250 general; $175 student

Price includes:
• Welcome reception on Wednesday evening at the Oakland Zoo
• Vegetarian or vegan lunch on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Summit lunches presented by renowned Chef, Tanya Petrovna
• Complimentary shuttle service to and from the Oakland Zoo for conference attendees
• staying at the Hilton Hotel-Oakland Airport location.

Price does not include:
Other transportation, lodging, or any meals not mentioned.

Saturday, March 31
ARK 2000 SANCTUARY*
Optional excursion to PAWS’ ARK 2000 sanctuary in San Andreas, CA.
9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
$75 per person; includes transportation to and from San Andreas and a sack lunch.
Join PAWS directors, Pat Derby and Ed Stewart, for an intimate, behind-the-scene
tour of the first captive elephant sanctuary in the United States.
ARK 2000 shuttles will be available at two locations — Oakland Zoo and the
Hilton Hotel-Oakland Airport. When you register, please indicate at which location you
will be boarding the shuttle. Check-in will begin promptly at 8:45 a.m. Space is limited.
*ARK 2000 excursion is open to conference attendees/speakers only.

And the Speaker's are:

• Pat Derby and Ed Stewart: Founders, Performing Animal Welfare Society
• Joyce Poole and Petter Granli: Founders, ElephantVoices
• Jan Creamer and Tim Phillips: Founders, Animal Defenders International (ADI)
• Matt Rossell: Campaign Director, Animal Defenders International (ADI)
• Kartick Satyanarayan and Geeta Seshamani: Founders, Wildlife SOS India
• Caitlin O’Connell-Rodwell: Founder, Utopia Scientific
• Joel Parrott, DVM: Executive Director, Oakland Zoo
• Colleen Kinzley: Director of Animal Care, Conservation and Research, Oakland Zoo
• Gina Kinzley: Senior Elephant Keeper, Oakland Zoo
• Guy Lichty: Curator of Mammals, North Carolina Zoo
• Member, Steering Committee for the Elephant Taxon Advisor Group/Species Survival Plan
• for the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA)
• Rob Atkinson: CEO, The Elephant Sanctuary (TES)
• Keith Lindsay, Ph.D.: Researcher/Conservation Biologist, Scientific Advisory Committee,
• Amboseli Elephant Research Project (AERP)
• Dagmar Gerdes: Operant Conditioning Manager/Protected Contact, San Juan de Aragon Zoo, Mexico
• Cindy Machado: Director of Animal Services, Marin Humane Society
• Gail Laule: President, Active Environments
• Margaret Whittaker: Consultant, Active Environments
• Katie Maneeley: Founder, The Animal Agency
• Anna Ware: Board of Directors, Atlanta Humane Society
• Deborah Robinson: Volunteer/Elephant Campaign, In Defense of Animals (IDA)
• Catherine Doyle: Elephant Welfare Specialist/Campaign Director, In Defense of Animals (IDA)
• Ariel Fagan: Tufts University, Veterinarian Department
• Cherie Travis: Executive Director, Chicago Commission On Animal Care & Control
• Winnie Kiiru: Research Associate, Amboseli Elephant Research Project (AERP)
• Sofie Goetghebeur and Tony Verhulst: Founders, Elephant Haven (European elephant sanctuary)
• Adam M. Stone: Assistant Curator of Behavioral Management, Elephant Program Manager, ZooAtlanta
• Leonie Vestering: Wilde Dieren de Tent Uit (Dutch association against the use of wild animals in circuses)
• Linda Faso: Las Vegas Animal Advocate
• Martha Golar, Esq.: Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Animal Law
• Delcianna Winders: Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement, PETA
• Denise M. Sofranko, DVM: Field Specialist for Elephants, USDA, APHIS, Animal Care
• Sharon Niel: Conservationist, Researcher and Author

CONFERENCE CONTACT INFORMATION
Kim Gardner, event coordinator: 916/488-3991
E-mail Kim Gardner: kgardner@pawsweb.org
PAWS office: 209/745-2606
E-mail PAWS: info@pawsweb.org
PAWS’ website: www.pawsweb.org

A special fundraiser for Elephants & ElephantVoices with Dr. Joyce Poole

2012-03-13T11:07:00.000-07:00

CELEBRATE ELEPHANTVOICES’ 10TH ANNIVERSARY WITH US!

Join us for an inspiring afternoon with this world-renowned biologist and elephant advocate as she brings you closer to the world of the Asian and African elephant:

Learn about Elephant Partners, a unique program that uses web technology and citizen science to monitor & protect the Maasai Mara elephants.

Get a special sneak-peek of “War Elephants”, National Geographic Wild’s upcoming documentary featuring Dr. Poole, her brother Bob and the elephants of Gorongosa, Mozambique.

Hear about ElephantVoices’ work for elephants in captivity.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

2:00 p.m. VIP Reception

3:00-5:30 p.m. Event Reception & Presentation

Hors d’oeuvres and drinks at the Home of Patty Shenker and Doug Stoll

971 Enchanted Way, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272

$150 VIP Reception

Meet Dr. Poole & ElephantVoices’ co-founder Petter Granli one-on-one; receive a beautiful elephant photo

$75 Event Reception & Presentation

To RSVP for this event:

Call 323-301-5730 or email davidkca@earthlink.net

To make a reservation - space is limited!

If you cannot attend, please make a donation today by visiting www.elephantvoices.org

All proceeds go directly to ElephantVoices, a non-proﬁt 501(c)(3) organization

African Elephants

2012-03-07T07:24:00.004-08:00

It has been said, that African Elephants are destructive to the environment in which they live....

Overpopulation and farmers getting deeper and deeper into forests and other animal habitats are usually the result of old migration routes being cut off, forcing elephants and other animals into unnatural reserves - like the Masai Mara.

Their massive appetites can appear to be destructive in those places (Adults may consume up to 170 kg of plant material and dedicate up to 18 hours to this activity daily).

But there is something to be said about their role in the regeneration of the forest by spreading the seeds of many species. For example, Acacia seeds sprout much better after being eaten and dunged by elephants than if they simply fall to the ground. The ever grateful Dung beetles tackle the football-sized elephant droppings, break them down into little pellets and pull them into their burrows where the seeds germinate.

Elephants also dig up dried-out water holes with their tusks and feet, which provides moisture for other animals.

It seems, in fact, that the number of plant species is falling in the regions where elephants no longer live and recovering in other areas where the elephant is more often.

In 1987, two-thirds of Kenya elephants had been brutally killed and butchered for their ivory. Poachers went unrestricted despite a ban on hunting. Especially Tsavo National Park, once a glorious kingdom where elephants roamed free, became a place of agonizing solitary death of hundreds of defenseless elephants killed by human greed.

As the herd numbers plummeted into the hundreds it became a time for desperate action. A shoot-to-kill policy for military rangers with appropriate training and equipment was enacted and enforced. When Richard Leaky was nominated by the President of Kenya as the new Director of the Wildlife Department in 1989, he decided to let actions speak louder than words and work begun for a BIG Ivory fire.

On July 18, 1989 twelve tons of ivory, worth over three million dollars and representing almost 2,000 dead elephants, where set ablaze in the Nairobi National Park and set an unprecedented example of coherence.

It seems that we are in desperate need (2011) to do something similar again, as poaching still sores and elephants keep dying for their ivory in insane numbers.

Considering the damage we as humans cause this planet, and comparing that to the destruction elephants do to the environment, the damage doesn’t seem all that great. Maybe we can find a way to live on this globe side by side, with a minimum of damage to the environment and help keep these incredible animals alive.

Elephants are the most engaging of all animals to watch and have always fascinated people. It might be because their interactions, behavior patterns and personalities have so many human-like parallels. They are very social, frequently touching and caressing one another and entwining their trunks. Also their extraordinary memory, their anatomical uniqueness, their great intelligence and the way they communicate have fascinated us all for a long time.

The most common way for elephants to communicate is through blare sounds, which are produced through their trunk, and people who have heard that sound while visiting Africa will never forget it. They also emit infrasound at frequencies between 5 and 28 hertz, that are to high for humans to hear. These sounds can travel anywhere from 2.5 miles up to 6 miles. The elephants were the first terrestrial mammals known to make use of this phenomenon.

The age-old myth, that elephants carry the tusks and bones of dead elephants to the secret 'elephant burial grounds', and also when they are getting old, to go there to die, has no factual base.

Elephants do demonstrate a large concern for members of their families, take care of weak or injured members and appear to grieve over a dead companion.

DID YOU KNOW:

That elephant babys are born after a 22 months pregnancy, with the whole family in attendance and a mere weight of about 220 pounds?
That they use their tusks as either ‘left-’ or ‘right-handed’, the same as humans prefer one or the other hand?
That the trunk of an African elephant weighs as much as two adult men, which makes it understandable why some elephants curl them over one of their trunks from time to time?!
That the footprint of an elephant looks very much like a fingerprint, with distinct crisscross patterns of bumps and streaks?
That an elephant can smell water up to 12 miles away with its trunk?
That the absence of tusks in African elephants is becoming more frequent, which seems quite clearly a genetic response to the preferences of hunters for those with the largest tusks?
That a tusk can suffer painful tooth decay?
That elephants do not sweat as they have no sweat glands?
That the ears of an African elephant are almost 3 times bigger than those of the Asian elephants?
That the matriarch remembers the location of all the year-round water sources in the herd’s territory?

http://www.kenyatravelideas.com/african-elephants.html

Efforts to reduce poaching in Kenya

2012-02-26T08:06:00.002-08:00

Some good news on the efforts to reduce elephant poaching from Kenya!

On Thursday Feb 23, 2012 the NATION reports that Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) has launched a campaign to protect elephants from poachers. It is a 10 year plan providing a roadmap for conservation and managements of elephants in the country.

“Forestry and Wildlife minister Noah Wekesa told the launch ceremony that the increase in poaching and the level of organisation among illegal ivory traders were worrying.

“In the light of these worrying trends, we would be calling on the international community to support total ban in ivory trade in the coming Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention on Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) and listing of African elephants on Appendix I of Cites,” Dr Wekesa said.”

It was noted that Kenya lost 278 elephants in 2011 to poachers compared to 177 in 2010. At the same time eight tones of illegally acquired ivory were seized over the last three years.

“The function at the Ivory Burning Site Campsite in Nairobi National Park was attended by conservationists, including representatives of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN),Save the Elephants (STE), African Conservation Centre (ACC), universities and other research institutions, communities from different conservation areas and county councils.

The elephant strategy seeks to maintain and expand elephant distribution and numbers, enhance security to elephants, reduce cases of human-elephant conflict and increase the value of elephants to people and habitats.

The strategy seeks to address emerging problems and threats facing elephant conservation in the country. It aims to achieve this by engaging communities living adjacent to protected areas on the importance of protecting the species through education and awareness.”

All in all it sounds like a fantastic project and initiative. Let’s hope it will work on the ground as good as it sounds!

http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Drive+to+stem+elephant+poaching+launched+/-/1056/1333702/-/view/printVersion/-/5jhvya/-/index.html

http://www.africasciencenews.org/en/index.php/entertainment/52-environment/315-kenya-launches-10-year-national-elephant-strategy

War Elephants - new movie

2012-02-22T00:39:00.000-08:00

You may want to take a look at the page promoting the upcoming premiere screening of War Elephants in Washington DC - featuring the elephants of Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park.

Dr. Joyce Poole from ElephantVoices joins her brother Bob Poole in his documentary.

Further down on the page you will find a clip from "Coming of Age with Elephants" from 1996, also filmed by Bob Poole about Joyce's work. Hear Joyce talk about her study of male elephants, starting when she was 19.

Not to be missed!!

http://events.nationalgeographic.com/events/films/2012/03/14/war-elephants/

Elephants in Voi

2012-02-20T02:53:00.000-08:00

It happened last year and I wanted to share this with you; My visit with the elephants in Voi, Kenya.

Do you love elephants? Possibly foster one through the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust? Wonder how these little guys do, once they leave the orphanage in Nairobi?

I’m the proud foster-mom of two girls that were rescued and came into the orphanage with all sorts of wounds on their little bodies and disturbing stories. After healing and bonding with the other elephant babies, human keepers and friends for two year, they ‘graduated’ and moved to the stockade in Voi. From here they will have the chance and opportunity to gradually, when they are ready, go back into the bush and live the life of an adult elephant, the way it is suppose to be.

In September I managed to go to the elephants in Voi and it was the most amazing thing to experience them all grown up (after seeing them both as babies at the orphanage) and have a chance to visit with them for a little while out in the bush!

As it happened, without knowing, I ended up with a milk bottle in my hand and one of my girls came straight for me. With tears streaming down my face and a big huge smile, I marveled at the speed she emptied that big milk bottle and how special this all was.

After everybody had its share, we all went off to a small water & mud bath area and were privileged to see these guys have the most amazing time & fun playing with each other, wallowing in the mud. Being so close to them we had a chance to touch them, which, of course, came with getting red mud all over, that I didn’t want to wash off afterward. Crazy, I know. What can I say?! One doesn’t get a chance to ‘hang out’ with baby/teenage elephants often enough, so, wanted to cherish all impressions, smells, mud and all, as long as I could!

One hour went by way to fast, but I had a feeling I managed to split the time well between taking some photos, visiting and watching them. Can’t wait to go back though!!

And maybe, in a few years, they will go off into the bush, meet a strapping wild male elephant, get pregnant and bring back the baby to show off; which happened just recently with another former orphan. I would be very proud!

Meeting & visiting a little bit with the wonderful, amazing keepers at the Voi stockade was also a highlight! These men are the most dedicated people you can find; they are with the elephants literally all day and keeping a close eye on them at night. (at the orphanage in Nairobi, one keeper sleeps in each stockade with the babies.)

The babies look at them as their extended family and it happened many times now that once they are back in the bush and have a baby, they will come back to the stockade to show of their baby's to their human family!! Usually they bring some of their complete wild friends and everybody joins into the reunion! Incredible, if you ask me.

Keeping captive Elephants healthy

2012-02-03T01:05:00.000-08:00

In an attempt to keeping captive elephants healthy, researchers are coming up with different methods to take the temperature of elephants.

Here is a report by Andy Wilson, Vision System Design (& thanks to 'Save the Elephants' for distribution) about the latest developments.

"Many of our readers will be familiar with the principle of operation of thermal imaging (infrared) cameras and how they can be used in a variety of applications ranging from determining the thermal loss of buildings, detecting specific gases, or monitoring production processes.

But like me, most people might be surprised to hear that a group of researchers from the University of Guelph (Ontario, Canada) are now using such cameras to study the thermoregulation of animals such as elephants.

That's right. As a member in the Department of Animal and Poultry Science (APS), Esther Finegan and her students have filmed elephants in Busch Gardens zoological park in Florida with a thermal imaging camera to see how and when they store and radiate heat. She and her students are now pioneering similar thermoregulation studies at the Toronto Zoo.

While the use of thermal imaging will undoubtedly prove to be an invaluable tool that will enable zookeepers and landscape architects to better design the animals surroundings to keep them happy and healthy, this isn't the only means by which researchers have measured the temperature of such beasts.

Last year, for example, scientists at the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology (FIWI) at the University of Veterinary Medicine (Vienna, Austria) showed that Asian elephants respond to high daytime temperatures by significantly lowering their body temperature during the cooler night hours. By doing so they create a thermal reserve that allows them to store heat and so prevent heat stress as temperatures rise during the day.

To reach that conclusion, they fed small telemeters to a group of captive elephants in Thailand and a group at the Munich Zoo Hellabrunn to monitor temperatures in the animals' gastrointestinal tract. The telemetry system, which permits the continuous recording of temperature, had previously been developed at the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology.

Statistical analysis of the data confirmed that while the overall mean body temperature was similar in both the Thai and the German elephants, fluctuations in body temperature were on average twice as large in the Thai animals as in the German ones. The Thai animals had both a higher daily peak temperature and a lower minimum temperature, which the scientists related to the higher mean ambient temperatures in Thailand.

In fact, the body temperature of the Thai elephants dropped at night to well below the normal average, meaning that Thai elephants start the day with a much larger thermal reserve than their German counterparts.

It just goes to show that, just as there's more than one way to skin a cat, there is also more than one way to take the temperature of an elephant. But if I were an elephant, I'd probably prefer the noninvasive image-processing approach rather than ingesting a telemetry system."

http://www.vision-systems.com/blogs/vision-insider/2012/01/taking-the-temperature-of-elephants.html

Why Elephants?!

2012-01-10T11:13:00.000-08:00

Elephants have been a passion of mine for quite some time now. It has put me on a path to educate myself, study, volunteer for elephant/human relation projects & ever growing love for them.

Of the three different elephant species existing today, most of my own personal experience is with African elephants, although my heart beats faster after spotting any species. – I have sat watching them, in close proximity for hour after hour, day after day, endlessly fascinated by the intricate details of their life.

To me, it’s all about the appreciation of nature, humans, and the animal kingdom living together in peace and harmony!!

When it comes to animals, Elephants just happen to be at the top of my list. ;-)

"Elephant Destiny--Biography of an endangered species in Africa" by Martin Meredith is one of the best books I have read about elephants and their place in history.

It is a must-read for any elephant lover or someone who would like to understand how and when it all happened that these magnificent creatures became hunted and used for war and ivory.

I mentioned earlier that there are three remaining elephant species on this planet: the African elephant (Loxodonta), the Asian cousin (Elephas), and the so-called 'forest elephant', which is now mainly confined to the rainforests of western and central Africa.

There are very interesting differences between the African elephant and the Asian elephant, besides the obvious ear size:

- The African elephant is generally heavier and taller. They can weigh up to six tons (13,000 pound) and reach eleven feet or so at the shoulder.

- The African elephant’s back is concave or saddle-shaped, whereas the Asian’s is convex or straight.

- The African has immense triangular ears that extend beyond the neck; the ears of the Asian are comparatively small.

- The African has a flat forehead, and carries its head high; the Asian has a twin-domed forehead, and carries its head low.

- Repeated skin folds or 'rings' mark the African trunk and at its tip are two finger-like projections; the Asian’s trunk is smoother and ends in only one 'finger'.

- African elephants of both sexes usually carry tusks; with Asian elephants, tusks are confined mostly to males.

It is the most interesting and fascinating thing to watch a herd of elephants interact and go about their daily activities and to realize, that many behaviors are so closely related to the human world.

Specifically if it comes to the topic of children, teenagers, dynamics between adults, affections for one another and having fun!

There is a story that gives an idea about the distance these animals can communicate with each other and it happened in Zimbabwe.

At a private wildlife sanctuary adjacent to the Hwange National Park a group of about 80 elephants, a familiar sight to tourist at the lodge, disappeared one day. That same day a culling operation (controlled killings of whole elephant families/groups) had started in the National Park 90 miles away! Several days later the missing elephants were found at the opposite corner of the sanctuary as far away from the park boundary and the culling process as they could be.

The story itself is a sad one, but the abilities these beings have is absolutely amazing to me! Always think we could learn a thing or two from them!

Fun facts about Elephants

2012-01-03T19:07:00.000-08:00

To start us off on the right track, here are “14 fun facts about Elephants”, published by Smithsonian.com today, Jan 3^rd, 2012 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2012/01/14-fun-facts-about-elephants/

1) African and Asian elephants are sometimes thought to differ only by the location of the animals, but, evolutionarily speaking, they are species as separate as Asian elephants and woolly mammoths.
2) The elephant’s closest living relative is the rock hyrax, a small furry mammal that lives in rocky landscapes across sub-Saharan Africa and along the coast of the Arabian peninsula.
3) African elephants are the largest land mammals on the planet, and the females of this species undergo the longest pregnancy—22 months.
4) Despite their size, elephants can be turned off by the smallest of critters. One study found that they avoid eating a type of acacia tree that is home to ants. Underfoot, ants can be crushed, but an elephant wants to avoid getting the ants inside its trunk, which is full of sensitive nerve endings.
5) Elephants don’t like peanuts. They don’t eat them in the wild, and zoos don’t feed them to their captive elephants.
6) Female elephants live in groups of about 15 animals, all related and led by a matriarch, usually the oldest in the group. She’ll decide where and when they move and rest, day to day and season to season.
7) Male elephants leave the matriarch groups between age 12 and 15. But they aren’t loners—they live in all-male groups. In dry times, these males will form a linear hierarchy that helps them avoid injuries that could result from competing for water.
8) Asian elephants don’t run. Running requires lifting all four feet at once, but elephants filmed in Thailand always kept at least two on the ground at all times.
9) An African elephant can detect seismic signals with sensory cells in its feet and also “hear” these deep-pitched sounds when ground vibrations travel from the animal’s front feet, up its leg and shoulder bones, and into its middle ear. By comparing the timing of signals received by each of its front feet, the elephant can determine the sound’s direction.
10) Like human toddlers, great apes, magpies and dolphins, elephants have passed the mirror test—they recognize themselves in a mirror.
11) Elephants can get sunburned, so they take care to protect themselves. “Elephants will throw sand on their backs and on their head. They do that to keep them from getting sunburned and to keep bugs off,” Tony Barthel, curator of the Elephant House and the Cheetah Conservation Station at Smithsonian’s National Zoo, told Smithsonian.com. To protect their young, adult elephants will douse them in sand and stand over the little ones as they sleep.
12) Stories of African elephants getting drunk from the fermented fruit of the marula tree are not true, a study concluded. The animals don’t eat the fruit off the ground where it ferments, the fresh fruit doesn’t stay in the elephant’s digestive tract long enough to ferment, and even if an elephant did eat the fermented fruit, it would take 1,400 pieces to get one drunk.
13) Elephants have evolved a sixth toe, which starts off as cartilage attached to the animal’s big toe but is converted to bone as the elephant ages.
14) Some farmers in Kenya protect their fields from elephants by lining the borders with beehives. Not only are their crops saved, but the farmers also get additional income from the honey.
By Sarah Zielinski

My little contribution is as follows:

On 1) there is actually a 3^rd species, the Forest Elephants, and they are found from Sierra Leone to the Democratic Republic of Congo. They are a little smaller, tend to have straight tusks and they gather in large groups in clearings in the forest known as "bais". At the bais they are able to obtain mineral salts by digging down into the soil.

On 2) some people doubt this and argue that….’ this is true to a certain extent, but misleading since the relationship stems from a remote ancestor common to hyraxes, sea cows (dugongs and manatees) and elephants.’ Looks to me like a bit more research is in order!

On 4) ….and they are VERY irritated by African bees! If coming across them, it sends the elephants off in a frenzy!

On 6) sometimes the groups can be even smaller. It could be just a mom with her calves of different age groups. It often is closely related to the area they live in, hence food to find, drought etc

On 9) Caitlin O’Connell made this discovery and you can read about it in her book ‘The Elephant’s Secret Sense’. Very interesting!

On 14) Dr. Lucy King with Save the Elephants has done extended research on this and won the CMS Thesis Award for her work just recently.

Until next time.

Elephant news with a positive spin

2012-01-03T10:42:00.000-08:00

Elephants; lots has been said about them and, I’m sure lots will follow. Especially now, as we are at the start of the New Year 2012 and it was just released that 2011 was the worst year for elephants in regards to being poached, ie. killed for their tusks/ivory. The numbers are staggering, which makes the rate they are being killed off and disappearing mind-boggling & very frustrating to say the least.

After having said that, this blog will be highlighting and focusing on the positive aspects and news about these amazing beings, which I happen to care for and love very much.

There will be news about the current state of course, but not JUST!

I hope you will come along & enjoy following my quest in finding the positive for our efforts in saving Elephants!