28th September 2018
By LoveEarth
Comments Elephants are truly a wonder of this earth. They are so much more intelligent than we give them credit for. Some cultures believe they are more intelligent than us and hold sacred knowledge within their species.
Scientists are beginning to realize that the African elephants who migrate do not migrate for the sole reason most species do. Read on to learn more about recent studies regarding this phenomenon!
1st Let’s Throw Some Fun Facts Your Way! Did You Know?
■Elephants form deep family bonds and live in tight matriarchal family groups of related females called a herd.
■The herd is led by the oldest and often largest female, called a matriarch.
■Herds consist of 8-100 individuals depending on terrain and family size.
■They have the largest brain of any land animal and three times as many neurons as humans.
■African elephants can distinguish differences in human gender, age, and ethnicity purely by the sound of someone’s voice.
■Elephants have shown they have excellent problem-solving skills, often using objects in their surroundings as tools to reach food, scratch themselves, or get them out of restraints.
■It has been observed that elephants show empathy by comforting one another in distress. They are often seen stroking each other with their trunks and emitting small chirping sounds.
■Elephants mourn their dead. They touch their dead and sometimes try to bury the remains. They will stand by the body for hours, sometimes days, to mourn. They have only been observed mourning their own species. Some elephants will revisit the remains or site of their loved ones for years.
■They have a brilliant capacity for memory. It is most likely their knowledge is passed down through the generations and may be one of the key factors that have kept their species alive!
Migration Basic Facts:
■The African Elephant generally follow the same migratory routes annually. Migration distances vary considerably depending on environmental conditions. During a prolonged dry season in Africa, elephant migration distances were recorded to extend over 100 km or 62 mi.
■They inhabit a diverse array of habitats including tropical forests, savannas, grasslands, and woodlands.
■Migration normally begins at the start of the dry season, between June and November; heading toward more hospitable locations near rivers and water sources that are not prone to drying. When the rainy season arrives, usually from October to December and March to June, elephant herds return to native regions to feed on the superfluous vegetation the rains helped regenerate. Their migration allows time for the re-growth of vegetation in exhausted grazing areas.
Recent Studies:
As researchers, scientists, journalists, and photographers from all over Africa continue to closely study the African elephant, all of them still lack conclusive data pointing to elephant migration as a seasonal pattern for just food and water. Very sporadic data is consistent within the majority of studies.
■Data shows that migration isn’t found within all herds.
■The “migration” of many herds aren’t solely linked to seasons or environmental conditions.
■Some individual elephants from a herd will leave the group and travel far distances to areas that do not necessarily provide an abundance of food, water, or breeding opportunities.
So what is going on here?
From Kenya to Namibia, only one thing is for sure, ONE pattern has come to fruition; the African Elephants extensive travel is often to “safe zones”.
Areas of Africa that are highly protected for conservation purposes or have strict anti-poaching laws have seen a mass influx of elephants over the past years.
Angola and Botswana are two areas that have seen two of the biggest jumps in their elephant populations.
Botswana is now home to roughly 130,000 elephants—a third of Africa’s entire elephant population. This is an increase of over 30,000 elephants in Botswana since 1995 against a backdrop of declining numbers across the continent.
“Elephants are using well-known migratory routes into Botswana to flee threats from neighboring countries,” says Mark Hiley, co-founder of National Park Rescue. “The systematic movement of elephants into Botswana is linked to their survival.”
Researchers believe this migration is just one survival mechanism elephants have developed in response to poaching, conflict, urbanization, agriculture, and other pressures in Africa.
Elephants also have developed sophisticated gestures, sounds, infrasound, and even chemical secretions to relay messages to one another for survival purposes. “Through various means, elephants can suggest that the group moves on, that they sense danger, or that they are in distress,” says Douglas-Hamilton. This communication amongst herds could help explain how so many elephants from so many different regions have all found their way to these specific safe zones.
Elephants Without Borders, an organization that tracks wildlife for conservation purposes, has uncovered some of the key details to these unbelievable migration patterns. Their research is revealing that elephants are undeniably using old pathways, and historical corridors to exploit “new lands”. One example, Angola. With the end of civil conflict in Angola, the region now offers the required security for elephants to return to this previously war-torn country. Elephants are trekking from northern Botswana through the Caprivi Strip into southeast Angola, where their numbers have increased from 36 in 2001 to over 8000 in 2007! The elephants have not returned to Botswana and are now resident in Angola.
Another study held by the Conservation Ecology Research Unit (CERU) at the University of Pretoria (UP) tracked 139 savanna elephants over 15years, one of the largest studies on elephant movement to date. They also found that out of all these elephants only 25 showed migratory patterns – to and fro movements between two non-overlapping seasonal ranges. Out of the 25, only 6 migrated more than once during the time they were tracked!
Although few elephants migrated, most of the protected area clusters that were studied harbored migratory individuals. This included elephants in Etosha National Park (Namibia), Chobe National Park and Moremi Game reserve (Botswana), Hwange (Zimbabwe), Kruger National Park (South Africa), North and South Luangwa (Zambia), and the Quirimbas National Park (Mozambique). However, almost all of the migrations moved beyond National Park boundaries and 11 migrations crossed international borders.
According to Michael Mole, a co-author on this study, “The one thing these protected areas all have in common is that they are large, often buffered by secondary protected areas, and are relatively un-fragmented. Migrations need space, some of these elephants’ travel over 100 km to reach their seasonal ranges.”
Take Away:
So, after all this research scientists have to come to the conclusion that the African elephant’s natural migration patterns have been disrupted by an even greater threat than starving; human conflict. Have elephants ever naturally migrated? I guess scientists don’t have enough solid evidence from the past to answer this question accurately, we would have to go back to a time when there wasn’t human vs elephant conflict. What we do know NOW is that elephants from all over Africa are traveling extreme distances, using tactical traveling techniques to remain safe, and communicating with other herds in order to find conflict-free zones where they are able to sustain themselves until it is safe to return home.
An important question arising from this is whether or not these parks are big enough to sustain and protect these elephants? Without enough resources to sustain these huge animals, herds will continue to travel in and out of these protected areas, which poses a variety of threats to the species.
We need to better understand the spatial requirements for this species, so conservation initiatives can start to establish functional protected-area networks. If Africa can come together to connect pieces of their safe-zones, parks, and conservation land, bit by bit we will be able to create a chain of safe corridors and pathways across the continent. Image an Africa where the elephant can migrate freely and safely…the ecosystems will flourish and the elephant species will be able to rebuild their numbers.
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