central limpopo valley elephant research project - Mashatu Game ...

CENTRAL LIMPOPO VALLEY ELEPHANT RESEARCH
PROJECT
September 2008 Update
TRUNKLESS ELEPHANTS!!!!
Background to the CLRV Elephant
Project
The project was initiated in August 1999 in
order to determine the status of the
Central Limpopo Valley elephant
population and to determine the effect of
the elephant population on their natural
habitat within the Tuli.
Trunkless elephants Even though this
phenomenon is often observed in the Tuli it is not a
natural phenomena but rather the indiscriminate
snaring along our borders.
This month in particular we could see the end
results of these actions with a total of four snared
elephants reported on Mashatu alone. Two of the snared
elephants were less than a year old! They were the lucky
ones. The snares were wrapped around their necks and
still very loose. A young female in Sofie’s herd was not as
lucky. A snare tightened around her trunk and by the time
we located the young female the snare has cut in deep
into her trunk. Watching her was heartbreaking. While
everybody else in the herd was feeding she would only lift
her trunk up and place it on her forehead, and then down
again, flicking her painful trunk continuously. One
afternoon, while observing the herd the young female
walked right up to the vehicle facing us squarely stuck out
her trunk towards us, place it on her forehead, flicked it
and then walked off, without a second glance at the
vehicle. One got to wonder what she was trying to tell us
…… In less than a month she lost body condition and
was not in a good state.
The broad objective of this study is to
determine how various factors influence
movements, occupancy rates in different
parts of the home range, social dynamics
and conception and survival of elephant
groups in the Central Limpopo River
Valley. In order to meet the objectives,
data will be gathered through field
observations of the various herds within
the study area concentrating within the
Northern Tuli Game Reserve, satellite
data on the movements of the various
herds collared, weather data from various
stations within the study area, vegetation
data on the phenology of various plant
species as well as long term vegetation
change in the Northern Tuli Game
Reserve.
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Elephants are often the victims of snares and in the nine years I have been studying
these amazing creatures we had to shoot several youngsters with snares around
their feet too far gone to save them. Smaller elephants due to their inquisitive nature
sometimes get their trunks caught in these wire snares. The snare will slowly tighten
around the trunk and as it does it cuts deeper and deeper into the trunk eventually
amputating a section of the trunk. The lucky ones are those that only loose a small
portion of the trunk. They will most likely survive. The unlikely ones are those, which
a large portion of the trunk is amputated. As these animals grow up they need to fend
for themselves. It is nearly impossible for the animal to feed itself and even harder to
obtain enough water and over time the animal will die of starvation. On the reserve,
there have been amazing stories of herds taking care of these individuals feeding
them over times of food shortages but eventually the outcome is the same –
starvation!
The Wildlife Department was called as soon as the snared elephants were reported
and confirmed and a veterinarian will be coming out to the reserve early in October to
assist with the snares. Unlike the predators this is not a task we can do ourselves.
The drug used in darting an elephant is highly scheduled and only a registered
veterinarian is allowed to dart. It is also a dangerous operation especially when less
than a year old babies are involved. We will monitor the various herds as best we can
(only one herd is collared) until the arrival of the Wildlife veterinarian and hopefully
we can rescue these youngsters from a very painful and most likely fatal experience.
Ivory Drives
During this month a total
of 57 guests participated
in the Ivory Experience
and 8 volunteers partook
in the Research Shadow
Program. A total of 18
different herds were
observed during the
month but the family that
was most often seen was
that of Hestelle with
Charge’s group a close
second. Herds during the
month were mostly seen
either walking or
browsing on the thorny
Acacia trees along the Majale and Limpopo rivers.
On most of the drives we ended up sitting amongst the elephants as they hungrily fed
on the Acacia trees wondering how on earth they manage to eat those thorny twigs.
The babies are growing up fast and as they do they get more adventurous. Bored
with everyone else chomping away on the trees the babies often use the game
viewer as a big toy. An interesting behaviour this month was seen on an afternoon
visit to Cheeky’s herd. We met up with the herd on a very hot afternoon, far from any
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water source. Two females on two separate occasions urinated and then stepped
back and sprayed themselves with their urine as a means to cool down.
Email list
Should you have received this update “via the grapevine” and would like me to email
it to you directly in future, please send me an email
(mashatu.research@telkomsa.net) and I will add you to the mailing list. Please note
that I do not have regular email contact and may not respond to email for several
weeks at time, and this also hampers getting regular updates out.
Best wishes
Jeanetta Selier
Project Sponsors
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