She had not been seen for months following a recent drought and everyone feared the worst. Big Life Foundation’s rangers were therefore surprised and delighted when she resurfaced in Kimana Sanctuary in early November, however looking very frail. The rangers monitored her closely, but she died peacefully a few days later.
If there was ever an elephant worthy of being one of Amboseli’s queens, it would be Theodora. And her brother Tolstoy and nephew Tim, would have been two of its kings.
Over the course of her long reign she gave birth to 10 calves, endured 5 droughts, and withstood waves of ivory poaching and human development, yet time and again, she helped her family overcome these threats.
She was a member of the illustrious ‘T’ family, first recorded by Cynthia Moss, Director of the Amboseli Trust for Elephants and Harvey Croze back in 1973 – 50 years ago! They were led by a matriarch called Teresia who also had long, elegant tusks. It would be long tusks, but also long lives and resilience in the face of enormous challenges that would define the ‘T’s.
Theodora inherited her mother’s wisdom when she became matriarch of the family in 2003 and her biggest test came in 2009, during the worst drought in living memory. By the time the rains had returned, a quarter of Amboseli’s elephants had perished, yet remarkably Theodora had kept her entire family alive.
While it is always sad to lose a great matriarch, we should be reminded of Cynthia Moss’ words that: “Other than Amboseli, there truly aren’t many places in Africa where it’s possible for elephants to live out their full lifespan.” This is something that should be celebrated, and Big Life is proud to play a significant role in ensuring that this is the case.
Photo: Josh Clay
Text: Big Life Foundation
At about 2 months old, Mataya was found alone and hurt on the banks of the Zambezi River in Zambia. With the help of David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation, he now receives intensive support at the Elephant Nursery in Lusaka.
]]>At about 2 months old, Mataya was found alone and hurt on the banks of the Zambezi River in Zambia. With the help of David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation, he now receives intensive support at the Elephant Nursery in Lusaka. Elephant Gin and Stairs Bar Berlin have teamed up to support Mataya by raising funds through a bespoke cocktail on the bar's menu. From every cocktail sold, Stairs Bar donates 5 € directly to efforts for Mataya's recovery, rehabilitation and eventual release to the wild.
At the end of February 2023, Mataya's mother and the rest of his herd was chased away from crop fields in the remote village of Mataya Unga alongside the Zambezi River. As with so many rural communities, subsistence living and the growing of crops is vital for their existence. However, the growing of maize attracts elephants, for whom it is such a favoured food, and often leads to Human-Elephant conflict.
The farmers and community members responded by chasing the elephants away, firing guns, throwing rocks and making noise to scare them off. In the commotion, Mataya became separated from his mother and in the aftermath of the conflict he was found alone. Enraged by the loss of so many crops one community member tried to kill the young calf for meat, attacking him with a machete. However other members of the community bravely rescued the calf and secured him in a safe location until the Zambian Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) rapid response unit arrived on the scene and brought him to the Game Rangers International Elephant Nursery funded and supported by David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation in Lusaka.
When Mataya arrived at the Elephant Nursery, he was so weak that he could not stand, his blood glucose levels were dangerously low, and he had sustained machete wounds during the conflict. He was traumatised, stressed and completely exhausted. It was a nerve-wracking night for the team as they attempted to ensure he consumed the life-saving milk he so desperately needed, balancing this with the need to rehydrate and rest. Thankfully after 12 hours of intensive support, Mataya managed to stand up and started showing a little more interest in his keeper and milk. At around two months old he is incredibly vulnerable and needs constant physical contact, specialist nutrition and veterinary support to survive.
With Stairs Bar's commitment, we are raising funds to support Mataya's recovery and eventual release back into the wild in Kafue National Park.
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David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation,
Charity number: 1106893
Ulysses was born in 1979 and named by the Amboseli Trust for Elephants. He grew into one of Kenya’s biggest tuskers - a super tusker by definition with tusks that weigh over 45kg each.
With Big Life Foundation’s support, he survived four decades of Kenya’s poaching crisis. Big Life Foundation partners with local communities to protect over 2 million acres of wilderness in the Amboseli-Tsavo-Kilimanjaro ecosystem of East Africa.
Thanks to protection from Big Life rangers and the Kenya Wildlife Service, Ulysses made it not only through the worst of the ivory-poaching days but also counter another big threat the so-called “human-wildlife conflict”.
Ulysses was speared on two different occasions by farmers in retaliation for crop raiding, before the construction of Big Life’s crop-protection fence. On both occasions, in 2016 and 2018, he was successfully treated and since then has wandered in Amboseli, delighting those lucky enough to see him.
Ulysses died on March 27, 2022, of seemingly natural causes. His tusks were recovered and weighed in at a staggering 51 and 47 kg - which at the height of the elephant-poaching crisis would have been worth US $200,000.
Photo copyright and text: Big Life & Jeremy Goss
]]>After a one-hour flight, the SWT rescue team arrived and were immediately taken to the calf. It was a heartbreaking scene for the rescue team to find the calf secured on the floor of a class, stressed, injured from the attacks, and extremely traumatised. She had experienced unimaginable trauma that day and was extremely lucky to still be alive. She responded to the tender loving care that she received from the rescue team and fed well - clearly dehydrated by
this time.
After the short drive from the village back to the airstrip the team were able to safely load the tiny calf onto the rescue plane. It was a huge relief for all, including the pilot since it was getting so late, to finally have the calf safely on board and leaving behind a very hostile community.
At the orphanage near Nairobi, she was placed in a stable with her new Keeper Mishak. He decided to call her “seed” as she was so tiny - in Swahili seed is Mbegu and so the name stuck. It seemed like an enchanting name for a very sweet and beautiful baby, who escaped death by some miracle. Her wounds were cleaned and treated while many of the Nursery elephants sensed her arrival and began bellowing and this comforted Mbegu enormously hearing the
familiar elephant sounds.
Mbegu settled extremely well and loves the other orphan elephants, but more than that she is hooked on her Keepers, never forgetting the love and tenderness they have shown her since the day of her rescue.
Photo courtesy: Sheldrick Wildlife Trust
Vida was already a mother to a young boy named Vladimir then. Soon Cynthia discovered it was not only the size of the family that was different to other groups - they were roamers, quite different to some of the other elephants, who were much more resident. Their travels might have taken them to good feeding grounds, but it brought trouble too, and in late 1976 two of the older females were speared and died, leaving young calves behind. Vida and her baby boy were safe, and soon in response to rich rains and a period of relative peace, a baby boom followed, including Vida’s second and third boys - Virgil and Vodka. In 1984, just as her eldest Vladimir was becoming independent as young elephant males do, Amboseli experienced a severe drought, which took a tremendous toll on the population. Many of the calves died including the VA family - Vida and her offspring survived again.
Soon after Vida’s mother and matriarch Virginia’s natural death at 60, Vida took over the lead over VA family. She wasn’t as confident with roaming far at the beginning, but soon enough that changed and thanks to collaring a few of the family members the researchers were able to see the family movements. This was crucial in mid-90s as it was another challenging period in terms of human-wildlife conflict, poaching and sadly sport-hunting across the border in Tanzania; many elephants were killed. The researchers, therefore, were keen to understand which areas elephants were using far from the relative protection of Amboseli Park. The tracking technology was not too great back then, but the team was still able to find out VA’s roaming range of over 2,000 km2 (nearly 800 mi2), an area six times bigger than the National Park.
The range of the travels brought a lot of tragedies onto the family in 2000’s. Thirty-one family members died between 2000 and 2009; some as a result of drought or illness, but others due to spearing and poisoning, followed by an even more tragic 2009 extreme drought, that wiped out half of the Amboseli elephant population. Vida sadly passed away then, yet her family managed to rebuild its structure and thanks to better technology and a tracking system the researchers team are able to protect them better.
Text and photo by Vicki Fishlock & Cynthia Moss, Amboseli Trust For Elephants
]]>Sadly in March 2017, the 45-year old Satao II also fell prey to poachers when he was found brutally killed by a poisoned arrow in Kenya. The Kenyan Wildlife Service rangers were able to find the carcass before the poachers could get to the elephant, which means that the tusks were recovered - and not sold on the black ivory market.
Losing the legendary Satao was devastating news as it leaves only 6 of these tuskers left alive in southern Kenya. In all of Africa, there are approximately 25-30 tuskers left to date - but with current poaching rates, the super tusker genes are expected to die out. In fact, Satao II’s death, and the recent spike in poaching, represent a significant threat to the world’s last-remaining African elephant population.
In Satao II’s case, subsequent investigations identified two people that were arrested and their weapons (12 poisoned arrows and an AK47 rifle) seized.
Photo credit: IBTimes UK
]]>At midday, the gut-wrenching news arrived: three dead elephants had been found, their faces cut away, their ivory gone.
The dead elephants were identified as QUMQUAT, born in 1968, one of Amboseli’s most famous and oldest matriarchs, and her two daughters, QANTINA and QUAYE. Just 24 hours before they were gunned down, Big Life’s Nick Brandt took the above photo of the three of them, alive on their last afternoon together.
When the rangers found the carcasses, Qumquat’s youngest calf, QUANZA, only ten months old, was also there, watching over his mother’s carcass. The calf, traumatized at having watched its mother shot and butchered, had stood vigil all night alone. He was caught and picked up by the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust rescue team and flown to the Sheldrick orphanage near Nairobi.
With the help of Big Life’s informer network, the team was able to locate one of the key poachers, and the following day, the Big Life teams, in partnership with Kenya Wildlife Service, arrested him.
This is a good example what can happen when everyone pulls together, in this case Big Life Foundation, Kenya Wildlife Service, Amboseli Trust for Elephants and the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.
Text: New York Times, Photo credit: Nick Brandt
]]>At midday, the gut-wrenching news arrived: three dead elephants had been found, their faces cut away, their ivory gone.
The dead elephants were identified as QUMQUAT, born in 1968, one of Amboseli’s most famous and oldest matriarchs, and her two daughters, QANTINA and QUAYE. Just 24 hours before they were gunned down, Big Life’s Nick Brandt took the above photo of the three of them, alive on their last afternoon together.
When the rangers found the carcasses, Qumquat’s youngest calf, QUANZA, only ten months old, was also there, watching over his mother’s carcass. The calf, traumatized at having watched its mother shot and butchered, had stood vigil all night alone. He was caught and picked up by the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust rescue team and flown to the Sheldrick orphanage near Nairobi.
With the help of Big Life’s informer network, the team was able to locate one of the key poachers, and the following day, the Big Life teams, in partnership with Kenya Wildlife Service, arrested him.
This is a good example of what can happen when everyone pulls together, in this case Big Life Foundation, Kenya Wildlife Service, Amboseli Trust for Elephants and the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.
Text: New York Times, Photo credit: Nick Brandt
]]>First two years of Kir’s childhood were relatively peaceful - until 2009 when Amboseli, Kenya, experienced the worst drought in living memory. Nearly 400 elephants died. Among these were 60 adult females of which 27 were matriarchs.
The calves were the first to go. There was nothing for them to eat and their mothers could not produce enough milk for them, especially as the calves got older. In 2008, 151 calves were born, which was a new record. However, the next year these calves were just at the age when they needed to supplement milk with vegetation and there simply wasn’t anything they could eat. As a result 97 of them died during 2009. The calves born during 2009 also suffered but they did a bit better because they didn’t have to eat as much vegetation. Of the 85 calves born during the drought 38 died.
On the other hand a few families made it through the drought with few deaths. One of these fortunate families was the KAs. Their matriarch Kerry got her family through the drought with no losses at all. And even more amazing the two calves born during 2009 both survived.
Kir survived and continues to spend time with the KA family for a few more years - but as all young males he will eventually go independent. Some male elephants break out of the family as young as 9-10 years, others as old as 19-20 (these are called “Mama’s boys”), but the average age is around 14. This is a very risky time for young males. As they are gradually going independent they venture off on their own and run into trouble, such as getting too close to Maasai settlements or cattle herds.
While males may not form the same kinds of close-knit friendships as female-led groups, research has proven that male aggregations are far from random. The older males mentor the youngsters and guide them through the adult world.
Photo and text credit: Cynthia Moss, Amboseli Trust For Elephants, Robbie Labanowski
]]>The elephant was younger and supposed to outlive Jezebel to become matriarch, carrying on the elephant legacy. However while Jezebel had a long and happy life, dying of natural causes, Joyce was tragically killed by poachers for her ivory, before she could take on that role.
]]>The crack of a heavy rifle, designed specially to kill elephants, is unmistakable. It’s a little like a sonic boom, a crash followed by a roll of sound, not unlike thunder. This is what the Big Life Foundation rangers, manning an observation point on the Tanzania border, heard on 28th October 2012. Three shots in quick succession.
At midday, the gut-wrenching news arrived: three dead elephants had been found, their faces cut away, their ivory gone.
The dead elephants were identified as Qumquat, born in 1968, one of Amboseli’s most famous and oldest matriarchs, a subject to long-time research and observation, and her two daughters, Qantina and Quaye. Just 24 hours before they were gunned down, Big Life’s Nick Brandt took the above photo of the three of them, alive on their last afternoon together (see below).
When the rangers found the carcasses, Qumquat’s youngest calf, Quanza, only ten months old, was also there, watching over his mother’s carcass. The calf, traumatized at having watched its mother shot and butchered, had stood vigil all night alone. He was caught and picked up by the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust rescue team and flown to the Sheldrick orphanage near Nairobi. It took a few days for her to understand that not all humans are evil, and in this she has been helped by the other 25 Nursery elephant orphans who have been through the same loss, now fortunate to be amongst those few who have been rescued and who have found an alternative family and given a second chance of life.
With the help of Big Life’s informer network, the team was able to locate one of the key poachers, and the following day, the Big Life teams, in partnership with Kenya Wildlife Service, arrested him. This is a good example of what can happen when everyone pulls together, in this case, Big Life Foundation, Kenya Wildlife Service, Amboseli Trust for Elephants and the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.
Text: New York Times & Sheldrick Wildlife Trust
Photo credit: Nick Brandt
Watch the rescue video here
He’s been most spotted west of Shingwedzi, generally well away from the main tourist routes, and at Gumbandevu (Punda Maria) and Red Rocks (Shingwedzi).
Masambela had two very symmetrical tusks curving inward at the tips. The left tusk was broken before his death and was detected in the 2006 census. There was a small round hole in the right ear towards the middle of the lobe and he was known to have a protuberant growth on his scrotum area in later years.
It was estimated that Masbambela’s tusks were probably only second in size to Duke’s (the biggest at the time in Kruger National Park).
The carcass of this bull was located on 7th November 2006 in the Mponda block of the Woodlands section by then ranger David Manganye. He sadly had broken his left tusk before he died, the date of the break is unknown, but was detected in the 2006 census in August 2006. The missing piece was never recovered.
Text credit: South African National Parks
Photo credit: Johan Marais
]]>Spirit has already got beautiful tusks, despite his young age. He has been spending more time in the Chyulu Hills recently, hopeful because he feels safe. He is remarkably calm and if we can protect him into old age – he will certainly grow to be one of Amboseli’s great tuskers; a legacy of the conservation work that is keeping him alive.
]]>Whilst on a routine patrol, The Mara Elephant Project spotted a creature bobbing along the waves of the Mara River, Kenya. And soon after realising it was a tiny baby elephant, the team braved the waters and plucked Lemeki from the swirling floods. After receiving the report, the SWT helicopter was quickly scrambled to complete the rescue.
At no more than a week old, and extremely fragile as a newborn, Lemeki’s prolonged time in the water left her dangerously vulnerable to pneumonia. A Neonate Nursery was quickly created at the Trust’s Kaluku Field Headquarters for Lemeki’s specific needs and since then has gone on to care for the most fragile orphans to come into the Sheldrick Trust’s care.
Her arrival at the Kaluku Field HQ, was shortly followed by the heart-breaking loss of SWT founder Dame Daphne Sheldrick. However little Lemeki arrived brimming with excitement, unconditional love and affection to all those around her, which brought a restorative balm and light to the team in the wake of their loss and during a time of grief. As one of the biggest personalities in the Trust’s care, she loves attention and spreads her eternal optimism to those who care for her. She has been named Queen of Kaluku.
Lemeki’s enchanting personality continues to grow as she flourishes in the care of the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. Whilst she currently remains at the Kaluku Field HQ, she will in time make her way to one of the Reintegration Units, one step closer to reclaiming her birth right and living a wild life.
Text & photo credit: Sheldrick Wildlife Trust
]]>Lucky was one of the youngest members of a group of elephants, that was relocated from Kruger National Park to the Pongola Game Reserve in 1979.
He was only one year old when he was transported among his family members in huge trucks. When the mighty animals finally got to step into their new territory, Heinz Kohrs, the Founding Trustee of Space for Elephants and his daughter Kristin realised that Lucky was not only the youngest one of the group, but also the only male. Kristin sponaneously called him “Lucky;” and stuck with him ever since then.
When Heike Zitzer, Elephant Monitor & Researcher at White Elephant, got to know him in 2009, he seemed to always appear out of nowhere, which scared her at first. But as she spent more time around him, he turned out as harmless as his name suggests.
In fact, Lucky grew to become a very calm and composed individual. Compared to most other young bulls, he cut the cord to his mother very early on, which lead to him becoming an independent elephant.
]]>Ely was born in 1990 to Echo, the famous Amboseli elephant featured in the TV film “Echo of the Elephants.”
His arrival was greeted by a great excitement in the family, but the researchers did not suspected Ely to make it past a few days of being alive. He was crippling on his knees and not able to trek for water and food, or keep up with the movement of his herd. His mum and sister were not giving up on him though; staying behind while the rest of the family were getting the supplies.
What looked like a life-long disability to the observing humans around, turned out to be a matter of lack of space in his mother’s womb. Ely’s legs were indeed so long (an indication of how big he was going to be) that he hadn’t been able to stretch them out during pregnancy. Only three days after birth, he was able to stretch his ligaments for the very first time – and finally started walking!
At the young age of 11, Ely startled everyone again with his sudden disappearance. Many suspected him to be a victim of poaching or human-wildlife-conflict, yet nine years later, in 2010, he casually strolled along his old territory. Handsome, nibbling on the grass and testing young females proving he grew up a big handsome boy indeed!
Photo credit: Amboseli Trust for Elephants
]]>Ndlulamithi earned his name from Dr. Anthony Hall-Martin in 1980, who wanted to highlight his size using a traditional Tsonga word meaning “taller than the trees.” His shoulder height was estimated at 11 ft 4 in.
His handsomely curved tusks were significantly more twisted than those of the other large bulls in the Kruger. Known for his aggressiveness and intolerance towards humans, Ndlulamithi was feared and respected by all, including Dr. Hall-Martin who was nearly trampled to death while conducting research on the Kruger’s great tuskers. Ndlulamithi died in 1985, apparently of natural causes.
Photo credit: Paul Bosman
]]>Today, Igor’s portrait is iconic for Big Life Foundation and much more than simply an image of an elephant drinking. It stands for Brandt’s incredible fine art photography of Africa’s vanishing wildlife and his main goal of portraying “animals simply in the state of being, before they no longer are.”
Truth be told, Igor only survived two more years after he posed for the camera before he was killed by poachers for his ivory tusks.
The death of Igor, among hundreds of other elephants, spurred Brandt to start Big Life Foundation to protect the African elephant from its biggest threat today: mankind.
Together with Richard Bonham and five years since its inception, Big Life now protects more than 2 million acres with more than 300 rangers, 41 permanent and mobile outposts, 13 patrol vehicles, 2 planes for aerial monitoring, tracker dogs, and a vast informer network across the whole region - fighting the war against poaching and making sure that the next generation will be able to experience this incredible wildlife.
]]>Whilst on a routine patrol flight, an SWT pilot noticed a tiny elephant calf being escorted by two big bull elephants. The pilot continued to scan the area for evidence of elephant herds but sighted no other elephants in the area. Only a few days prior the SWT aerial patrol had reported the sighting of a dead female who had succumbed to the effects of the severe drought not far from the sighting of the elephant calf.
Upon assessment of the situation by both Kenya Wildlife Service and the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust decided to initiate a rescue as the tiny calf would not be able to survive without her mother’s milk. With a repeat search to confirm that there were no other elephants in the area, the team gently separated the bulls from the baby. By doing this SWT team were able to capture her safely and wasted no time flying her to the Trust’s Nairobi Nursery. Once she had been given fluids, and even slept a little, she awoke to fellow orphan Maktao stationed in a stable next to her, offering her some much needed reassurance.
Though still grieving for her lost family, Kiasa was soon to accept her new human and orphan family. Kiasa was hooked on her Keepers, who were soon to see how with each day Kiasa was becoming more playful, but still remained utterly charming! This blossoming orphan has now graduated to the Umani Springs Reintegration Unit. She is surrounded by a smitten older orphan herd who are at her beck and call, in between all her mischievous antics! When she is ready to make her last step in her reintegration journey, Kiasa will return to the wild - but until then will remain in the care of the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.
Text and photo credit: Sheldrick Wildlife Trust
]]>Bodeni was rescued in February 2019. After reports of a newborn elephant wandering into a village bordering the Chyulu Hills, Kenya, the SWT Umani Springs Keepers, Kenze De-Snaring Team, and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) rangers quickly responded to rescue the little orphan. Upon arrival at the scene, the team were met by an overwhelmed little newborn, with lacerations covering his feet seemingly from the lava fields he had walked across nearby.
Named after the area to which he was found, little Bodeni was taken to the Kaluku Field HQ, home to the neonate unit that would provide him with the specialised care he needed. Being so young, Bodeni was quick to embrace his new family and his first stage of his rehabilitation was swift. Soon, he was ready to benefit from the mentorship of older elephants and with that the SWT moved him, alongside his two girl friends, Kindani & Kinyei (also at the Kaluku Field HQ) to the SWT Nairobi Nursery.
Since arriving at the Nursery, he is continually doted upon by the other orphans, who are accepting of his need to expel his bags of energy through a variety of playful escapades. He specifically loves to chase and tackle any moving target. With each day he is growing and developing, while the SWT Keepers are gradually teaching him manners to gently establish boundaries that benefit a growing elephant. Bodeni will be in the SWT’s care for many years to come, eventually graduating to one of the Reintegration Units, where he will ultimately make his way back to the wild. The long-term goal for all the orphans the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust rescues is to assist them back to a wild, to reclaim their birth right.
Photo and text credit: Sheldrick Wildlife Trust
]]>In 2016, when Marelet returned, the Big Life Foundation team noticed a wound on his face from a suspected spear attack. The team treated him instantly and Marelet was able to recover with incredible strength.
Since then his visits have been regular enough to be noticed by the Big Life team, yet he remained name-less all this time. Lucky for us, in 2021 we got the opportunity to name this beautiful bull – and decided on “Marelet” – in honour of a successful, long-lasting partnership between us and the Colleoni family, who run the Michelin-star restaurant San Martino and Marelet in Treviglio, Italy. The name derived from the Italian word for “male bachelor” – perfect for this independent tusker.
]]>The crack of a heavy rifle, designed specially to kill elephants, is unmistakable. It’s a little like a sonic boom, a crash followed by a roll of sound not unlike thunder. This is what the Big Life Foundation rangers, manning an observation point on the Tanzania border, heard on 28th October, 2012. Three shots in quick succession.
At midday the gut-wrenching news arrived: three dead elephants had been found, their faces cut away, their ivory gone. The dead elephants were identified as Qumquat, born in 1968, one of the area’s most famous and oldest matriarchs, and her two daughters, Qantina and Quaye. Just 24 hours before they were gunned down, Big Life’s Nick Brandt took the photo of the three of them, alive on their last afternoon together.
When the rangers found the carcasses, Qumquat’s youngest calf, Quanza, only ten months old, was also there, watching over his mother’s carcass. The calf, traumatised at having watched its mother shot and butchered, had stood vigil all night alone. He was caught and picked up by the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust rescue team and flown to the elephant orphanage near Nairobi.
With the help of Big Life’s informer network, the team was able to locate one of the key poachers, and the following day, the Big Life teams arrested him.
Text: New York Times
Photo copyright: Nick Brandt
One of many reasons that makes Kohlewe memorable is that he, among other few elephants, has started to explore Pongola’s neighbouring reserves and waters of Pongolapoort Dam (Lake Jozini) in search of new feeding areas. Pongola has gone through some dry patches throughout the past years with little food and water in the Game Reserve and so, intelligent as elephants are, Kohlewe together with others of the so-called Askaries (or boy-scouts) have circumvented the fences and gone through the lake to get to the other side of the reserve. has gone into the lake. Once scouted by the Askaries, the rest of the Pongolapoort elephant population followed suit not long after.
The researching team believes that Kohlewe and his mates have been taught this behaviour from their older, wiser males who in past years re-connected with still existing, ancient elephant pathways. The history of the northern Zululand area and that of Pongolapoort elephant movements certainly point towards this. Space For Elephants Foundation and their local researchers’ long standing mission is to open corridors and drop fences between their adjoining reserves to re-create and re-connect with these pathways. This way the elephants (and other wildlife) may follow their explorative instincts for new and already existing, ancient ranges!
Another reason that’s making Kohlewe known is his temper. While normally quite mellow in character, he can also be full of testosterone-charged energy when he is in musth (hormonal mating period in males that increase their testosterone levels and possible aggressive behaviour). That’s when Kohlewe only has one thing in mind: females! At such times it is better to stay a good distance away from him as he will not appreciate anyone getting in his way during the search, nor will he appreciate any intrusions of his amorous intentions while he is close to any females.
Lastly, Kohlewe’s absolute admirable intelligence which makes him so famous today – despite his name. The research team have witnessed him open water taps or dig deep into the ground to unearth (but also break at the same time) thick water pipes to drink fresh water instead of walking longer distances to the dam. Furthermore, he has displayed quite unique empathy toward a female (known as “Klunkers-Africa” who had a man-made obstruction stuck to her foot before the team was able to remove it after 1,5 weeks); he was keeping her company as she was quite desperately trying to keep up with her family who were a far distance ahead of her!
Today, at 30 years of age, Kohlewe surely isn’t “The Forgotten One”!
Photo and text credit: Vicky Boult, Heike Zitzer
]]>Edwina’s teenage and early adulthood were a rocky path, with some severe droughts that caused food-shortage. There was low rainfall in 2008 and then almost no rain in 2009, resulting in the worst drought in living memory. In the end, close to 400 elephants died, 83% of the wildebeest, 71% of the zebras, 61% of the buffaloes and 60-80% of the cattle. It was devastating for people and animals alike.
On May 3, 2009, Edwina’s grandmother Echo – who as the matriarch of her herd had saved her family from many natural disasters and human intervention – died of natural causes related to the drought. Her family was distraught and broke down into small subunits; being lost and not knowing where to go and what to do in case of danger. Edwina broke off with just her calves as a subunit. All the families were splintering in their attempt to find the last bits of food.
In 2010, when the drought was truly over, the sub-groups coalesced again , including Edwina who now still also often moves on her own with her daughters. It looks like she is gradually splitting off and she may eventually form an independent family of her own.
The photo shows Edwina playing with her younger brother 13 years ago: she was learning how to be the successful mother she is today with three healthy calves.
Photo and information courtesy: Cynthia Moss & Amboseli Trust for Elephants
]]>Like all male elephants, after pubescent years spent in the female-dominated world of mothers and maternal helpers, Andre broke out and began spending time with other male elephants. While males may not form the same kinds of close-knit friendships as female-led groups, research has proven that male aggregations are far from random. The older males mentor the youngsters and guide them through the adult world. Although males leave their birth family at an average age of 14, they don't leave family life altogether. Instead, they might move off and join another family, or move from family to family - and up to the age of 25 they mostly spend time with other family groups. There was a mistaken belief that young males get kicked out of their families. But this came from observations of males who had left their own family and joined another, where they are not as welcome as they would be with their own family.
Life seemed to be going well for Andre during the teenage years, but nature began to show its harshest side. Not enough rain fell for two years in a row and then in the third year, 2009, there was barely any rain at all. Amboseli experienced the worst drought in living memory. People, livestock and wildlife all suffered. Sixty to eighty per cent of the cattle died; 83% of the wildebeest, 71% of the zebras and 61% of the buffaloes perished. Over 300 elephants died from the drought and an upsurge of poaching; unfortunately, Andre was one of them.
]]>This is Tolstoy; one of the very few tuskers left in Africa. Tolstoy is a very old, big and powerful bull which has brought him to the top of the male elephant hierarchy in Kenya! He was photographed by Jeremy Goss from Big Life Foundation in the Kimana Sanctuary, a narrow piece of protected community land that provides elephants and other animals with water and safe passage as they travel east from Amboseli National Park in southern Kenya.
Bulls like Tolstoy share their rich life experiences with other elephants. They are the mentors of the younger bulls and intervene in any unusual or anti-social behaviours. Because of their large tusks, elephants like Tolstoy are a top target of poachers. Fortunately, trophy hunters are not allowed to kill them in Kenya, but poachers who also target the tusks don’t obey the law. Elsewhere in Africa, poaching and trophy hunting have, over time, eliminated tuskers like Tolstoy from the gene pool and thus caused the extinction of these magical giants.
The Big Life Foundation, with the support of the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, took over the management of the Kimana Sanctuary. Because of their great work, the Big Life Foundation managed to ensure that not a single elephant fell victim to poachers in 2019 in an area of 1.6 million hectares.
We donate 15% of the profits of each bottle to our partner foundations, thereby supporting your valuable work in the fight against poachers and for the preservation of this unique species.
You can find out more about our foundations and how we support the valuable work of our partner foundations here.
* Tuskers are particularly large, old and powerful elephants. What is particularly striking about a Tusker is its huge tusks. Each of these weighs at least 55 kilos.
]]>Loisaba is one of the 22 orphan baby elephants rescued by the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, whose names adorn our Elephant Gin miniature bottles. She was born around January 1998 and arrived to the orphanage at the age of around 18 months. She was undoubtedly a victim of poaching, the body of her dead mother having been found without tusks on Loisaba Ranch in Laikipia district, Kenya. 4 inches of Loisaba’s trunk had been sliced clean off, probably slashed by the poachers finding her presence by the body of her dead mother a nuisance when they turned up to hack the tusks from the carcass.
Having been rescued, she was sedated and flown directly to Tsavo to join the other orphans, but on arrival, all she wanted to do was to kill every human in sight. The other orphans calmed her, but she never lost her distrust of humans, and although she accepted the presence of the keepers, she did so reluctantly and grudgingly.
Because of the horrors she was exposed to in her short life, she remained fearful around humans, but was a loving little elephant, who became devoted to another elephant called Malaika, and suffered yet another tragedy when Malaika died during childbirth later in life. Loisaba went “through the mill” in her short life, probably subjected to more tragedy than most of the others. She harboured a distrust of humans, for obvious reasons, was highly sensitive, but gentle and clever; a real “survivor” who would have one day made a very successful “wild” candidate because of her tendency to shun human contact.
Unfortunately, Loisaba died at a very young age of 13, due to lung cancer and despite every effort of the local vet team. Loisaba’s story remains one worth telling for it reflect the ambivalent world we live in today. One of human interference that causes terrible damage to today’s wildlife – driving elephants to extinction – and one that proves the successful efforts by The Trust and other organisations that work so effortlessly to heal the wounds left by other humans.
Photo and text credit: Sheldrick Wildlife Trust
]]>Over the last five decades, Tim became one of Kenya’s most famous elephants and one of the continent’s last great tuskers, with tusks each weighing in excess of 100 pounds. They were an astounding burden to carry, not least because they made him an incredibly valuable target for any poacher.
He witnessed half a century of changes in the Greater Amboseli ecosystem, and those changes had nearly killed him three times already. Three times, he was speared by farmers defending their crops against his night-time raids. The spears missed organs, but the close shaves were frequent reminders of his vulnerability. Last year, he got stuck in the Kimana swamp, and were it not for a quick coordinated response to pull him out, that would have been the end. Sadly, this now is.
We are hopeful that his end was natural, and all indications are that that was the case. There are no obvious wounds on his body, nor any sign of foul play, but we need to wait for the full post-mortem test results from Kenya Wildlife Service before we will know for sure.
Tim leaves a huge hole in the heart of the Amboseli ecosystem, and on the earth. Thankfully, his genes live on in many of the other Amboseli elephants. There can and will be more like him in future, if we continue to protect the rest of his kind.
Photo credit: Jeremy Goss
Source: Big Life Foundation
Shayisa is the dominant bull in his population at just 29 years old, which is very young to be in charge. His succession followed the death of the previous dominant bull which was hunted in 2013. But owing to his level-headed and gentle manner, Shayisa is a pretty good boss.
The name Shayisa means: ‘to come in with a bang’ or ‘to suddenly appear’ in Zulu. This is rather fitting, as researchers often come across him rather unexpectedly despite his radio-collar.
Besides pioneering research of male elephants, the elephant monitoring involves prevention and treatment of attacks and spearing. The area is highly affected by unemployment which attracts poachers and threatens these gentle giants with near future extinction.
Wide Satao is one of Kenya’s well-known biggest tuskers. On 9th of May 2019, Tsavo Trust’s Head of Monitoring, Joseph Kyalo, noticed an unusual behaviour. Wide Satao was moving quickly from a potentially unsafe area outside the park boundary of Tsavo East National Park to a safer location within the Park.
An immediate ground patrol with a monitoring unit identified that he had been hit with an arrow, which was protruding from his right flank. Rapid plans were set in motion to treat Wide Satao, in collaboration with Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and Save the Elephants Foundation.
As soon as he got immobilised, the team noticed two wounds – one old one on his left flank and the rather fresh wound on his right leg with the arrow clearly exposed. The arrow was successfully removed, and the wound treated with antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. Researchers have been observing him every day since then to ensure his full recovery and make sure Wide Satao remains safe.
In fact, it is only with the help of these elephant conservation foundations that rare individuals like Wide Satao can continue to roam wild and free. The big tuskers are under a lot of threats from poachers and farmers, and the more we lose of them, the faster their gene pool diminishes, which ultimately leads these incredible creatures to become extinct.
Source: Tsavo Trust
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