Why elephants??

Why elephants?? With so many unique, gorgeous & threatened species in Africa, some may wonder why (or how) you could focus on just one?

When I first traveled to Botswana in '06, it was love love love! The people, wildlife, environment, lifestyle, pace, everything. In 2 short weeks, we saw everything; lions, cheetahs, leopards, cape buffalo, hyena, giraffe, gazelles, impala, hippos, jackals, monkeys, baboons, etc. etc. but the ONE thing I missed most, were the elephants. When I returned, all I could think about was elephants..I dreamed about them, researched them, read about them, sketched them, made countless doodles and collages, I was in love! Sometimes it seemed tiring, driving around on safari, (oh, poor me!) searching for more and more rare and exotic species to satisfy a tourist's checklist, when all I wanted was to sit and watch elephants all day...

Not only are they do they seem amazingly calm and zen-like to watch strolling around, casually feeding on grasses and leaves, but they are a unique species socially and cognitively. Elephants families are matriarchal. Each family unit is led by the oldest, dominant female, accompanied by sisters, daughters and grandchildren. Unlike almost any other species of animals, elephants are born with little to no natural instincts. Young calves have to be taught everything and adolescents males do not leave their mother's until about 10-12 years old and the females sometimes never leave their family units. If 2 older dominant females within a unit are both competitive in nature, one may leave a the unit with her calves to avoid competition for resources. Once males leave the matriarch, they spend much of their time in small bachelor groups, or roam about on their own.

The social behavior of elephants is what makes all the difference for me, it's what separates them from some other African wildlife species and why I am so intrigued by them. Each elephant seems to have a unique personality and there are distinct social relationships between matriarchal families. Elephants have been recorded mourning the death of a family member for days and even returning to their remains years after. There are greeting ceremonies, where family members have been apart for a few days or weeks and the levels of excitement vary depending on the closeness of the relationship. Females in a unit will babysit and care for each other's calves, teenagers will attempt to intervene in younger calves sparring matches that get a little to rough and when the herds are fat and healthy after the rains, researchers have seen entire family units running around playing and being silly in general.

Cynthia Moss is the leader in African elephant research, she is the Jane Goodall to elephants. She has been studying the elephants in Amboseli National Park in Kenya for nearly 30 years. Her book, Elephant Memories, is a fantastic read on elephant behavior and information on social structure. Her research methods of identifying individuals by ear shape and tusks and mapping out family units has become common practice among elephant researchers worldwide.
If anyone is very interested in elephants, I highly recommend reading it. It does contain an awful lot of information that only animal nerds like myself might find interesting, but it also starts each chapter with a fact-based story about elephant family life in Amboseli, which are all very touching.

I am especially interested in Cynthia's book because I am working in northern Tanzania, right along the border of Kenya, where Amboseli is. Elephant tracking data has shown that some herds from Amboseli migrate into west Kilimanjaro on a yearly basis. There might be a slight chance that I may be documenting some of Cynthia Moss's elephants! I don't know if the people I will be working with would be able to identify one herd as "Amboseli elephants" or particularly Cynthia's elephants, but it is exciting to think about, nonetheless.

So now I will have my chance to sit and simply watch elephants all day long. Of course, I will probably have to spend a fair amount of time locating them with a game scout, but I will be able to view them on my own time, without the pressure of finding as many animals as I can, like on safari. There will also be some aspects of this project that will not be so enjoyable. There is an anti-poaching squad that has the gruesome responsibility of seeking out elephants that have already been killed due to poachers and to seek out the poachers themselves...an aspect of elephant management that is too important for me not to document. But for the most part I will be focusing on the daily efforts of the elephant research camp and local elephant/human interactions. And enjoying my 10 months of camping in the middle of nowhere in Africa! aaahhhhhhhhhh......

here's a good YouTube video of elephants just being elephants, without the dramatic music or narration...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrlZsQ8iU6M