Tag: Elephant

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Elephant death mystery solved, but no nearer to a solution

In Zimbabwe, elephants started dropping dead, no-one knew why. This has now been solved, but were not any nearer to ending the problem, and now its spreading.

It is unfortunately a fact, that in the majority of instances, sudden deaths from an unknown illness are impossible to prevent until we know more.

In total, 300 died in Botswana with another 35 dying in Zimbabwe just 2 months later. 50 more elephants have died since in Botswana.

It turns out that these animals have fallen as a result of an obscure bacteria, and scientists are concerned that it could spread to other species.

Should something similar happen amongst, say the lions of an area, we could quickly see all the lions die.

It took 3 years but a wildlife veterinarian at the Victoria Falls wildlife trust has worked out what happened. Although initially thinking it was anthrax, it was spreading in a strange way, and killing to many animals.

It turns out that a bacteria called Pasteurella Bisgaard taxon 45 was responsible. It is relatively rare, and had not been known to kill elephants. Unfortunately, in previous heatwaves, similar issues have been known to jump the species barrier and kill large numbers of antelope – particular during a heat wave. This bacteria caused blood poisoning, and mostly killed recently weaned young, which are generally weaker anyway.

It is unfortunate that outbreaks like this are so easily linked to high temperatures, as our behaviour means that these high temperatures occur more often – so deaths like this may become a way of life. Given the slow rate of reproduction in elephants, this could threaten populations if not dealt with rapidly.

The same bacteria is thought to have been responsible for 200,000 saiga antelope dying on the steppe of Kazakhstan in 2015.

Oddly, this bacteria is thought to live happily in the mouths of a variety of animals from elephants and antelope, to lions tigers and even chipmunks. If all it takes for this bacteria to become deadly is an increase in temperature, we have a hard task ahead of us.

Currently, there are 350,000 savannah elephants in Africa, but this number is already declining by around 8% a year (around 26,000 animals each year, or the equivalent of twice the total elephant population of the Kruger national park – one of the largest in the world. While it is possible to turn this around it is not easy.

Elephant

African Savannah elephant, Asiatic elephant and Africa forest elephant

Elephant family tree

African Savannah African forest, and Asian Elephant

There are 3 species of elephant in the world (these come from two closely related genera, Loxodonta (the African elephant genus, and Elephas the Asian elephant genus, both are dealt with on this page). They are a good indicator species, as if an area is capable of supporting elephants, it can probably support most other species as well (those above are in the same order, should you not recognize them). 

The African Savannah elephant (left) and African Forest Elephant elephant (right) are both part of the same genus – Loxodonta. The Asian elephant (only one species, though a 3 subspecies Sri Lankan elephant, Mainland Asian elephant and Sumatran Elephant) is the only  member of the genus Elephas. It is important to remember, that while the mammoth is a well known extinct species like the Elephant, it is estimated that there have been 180 different elephantine species in earths history.

Click on the one you are interested below, to find out more (along with seeing longer videos on each separate species), or scroll down to read all the articles we have written on elephants.

African Savannah Elephant
Asiatic Elephant
African forest elephant

We already have a number of places to view wild savannah elephants. Click on wild places or here, for all our savannah destinations in Africa. All the savannahs have elephants, Except the mountain gorilla reserve, which has forest elephants – often seen on a walk in this reserve.

Should you work in tourism or conservation, and would like to list another destination, either of this species of elephant, or indeed of African forest elephants or Asian elephants, you will find a link at the top of the main page “list your wild place” or alternatively click here.

African forest Elephant

African Forest elephants

There are three species of elephant, the African savanna elephant, African forest elephant and the Asian elephant. 

With the African species, Forest elephants have declined 86% between 1986 and 2015, African Bush elephants declined 60% 1965 and 2015 leaving just over 400,000. African forest elephants are thought to number between 100,000 and 150,000.

Perhaps the most scary fact is that the African forest elephant was only declared as a separate species in 2021 only 2 years ago. These species are not particularly similar – indeed the Asian elephant is more genetically similar to the mammoth, than the African savannah elephant is to the African forest elephant! 

The African forest elephants population has declined precipitably in the last few years. Given the recognition that the forest elephant is a separate species only came 2 years ago, it is hard to get accurate historic figures. Never-the-less, the combined african elephant species population was thought to be around 26 million in 1800, and 1.34 million in 1976. The estimate is currently around 100-200,000 forest elephants. One of the problems, is that the African forest elephant is an essential part of the ecosystem. There are many trees, which rely on forest elephants to carry their seeds through the forest, so that they germinate a good distance from the original plant (more than a few of the same plant in the same area, causes the pest that feeds on the tree to multiply to the point where it can kill the tree. While it is true that other animals like gorillas and chimpanzees can do this, they do it far less. Should the forest elephant be lost, the African rainforest is likely to be far less capable of of handling the various changes, like climate change that is coming.

The last strongholds are in Gabon (a survey last year suggested Gabon has 95,000 forest elephants, rather than the 60,000 that was originally thought) and the Republic of the Congo and Democratic republic of the Cong, with smaller populations remaining in other African countries (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea) and Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia and Ghana in west Africa. There is much space for forest elephants to greatly recover, if the poaching is able to stop.

Below this, you will see a video on this species, and below this is a list of any times that the african forest elephant has been mentioned within this blog.

Below this, at the bottom of the page, we hope to list places where you can go to see this species in the wild – if you work in conservation or tourism around this species, do get in touch. we would love to list you, and it costs nothing to be listed, we merely work on commission.

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Positive news from Borneo – reconnecting wilderness

One of the problems with cutting down rainforest, it often what is left is so fragmented that it is useless for conservation. Remaining blocks of forest must allow a viable population of the rarest creatures, in order for the animals not to need to travel outside protected areas.

In Borneo, like in Sumatra, there has been a rapid loss of rainforest over the last few decades. Often it is claimed that enough is left behind in order to conserve the animals that live there.

Could this provide a way for wildlife and humans to thrive in close proximity?

In Borneo, while there is still a large quantity of wilderness, this is increasingly fragmented.

Continue reading “Positive news from Borneo – reconnecting wilderness”

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World maps: explore

This website aims to make it easy for those living with wildlife, and those who would like to see it, to find each other. Where-ever the wildlife, if the local people do not benefit it will not survive.  Please note, on some computers these maps can take 10 seconds to load.

Explore the worlds wilds, through the map above (each country contains a list of any wild areas within it – world maps for each fo these can be found at the top of the page -“wild places, “shadow of mankind”, “Hides”, “Future places” & “sightings board”), or the species in the expandable section below. Add your destinations, by clicking on “list your wild”. Scroll down to read our latest wild news.

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    aaa Malamala reserve, Greater Limpopo transfrontier park – between Sabi sands and the Kruger

    Malamala reserve, Limpopo Transfrontier park

    Established back in 1927, initially as a hunting reserve, it has been purely with a camera since 1964. Relatively small, only covering 62 square miles, it is sandwiched between the Kruger and the Sabi sands game reserve. As such, the game is incredibly dense.

    There most luxury suites in each camp is 10, across all three camps so  if every single one is inhabited, a large so called traffic jam would not stop you seeing the wildlife. Unlike in the Kruger itself, you are not restricted to roads, which means often very close encounters., it also make 62 square miles an enormous area to explore with your guide.

    aaa Skeleton coast, Namibia

    Skeleton coast, Namibia

    Lioness with cape fur seal it hunted, on the beach

    The skeleton coast in Namibia, is one of the few people where the desert runs right down to the sea. This desert area in Namibia is quite strange, as many species that do not usually live in desert region, but here they do.

    Here freshwater springs permeate the barren sands to create life-sustaining oases for small pockets of wildlife in the middle of the desert. Hartmann’s mountain zebra, gemsbok, desert-adapted elephant, brown hyena, giraffe and – occasionally – cheetah may all be found in this wild and rugged landscape. This part of the coast hosts a several large cape fur seals  colonies, which leads to fascinating moments like the above with lions hunting on the beach.

    Below is a video, of a hyena deep in the desert, something not likely to be seen elsewhere.

    This huge area of wilderness is actually made up of 4 reserves: Skeleton Coast national park, Dorob National Park (which contains Cape cross seal reserve -this is the largest of the 24 cape fur seals breeding colonies, with 80,000 to 100,000  on site at its height. Fur seals are more closely related to sea lions than to seals), Namib-Naukluft national park and Tsau Khaeb national park. Any links will appear below as this site grows.

    aaa Victoria falls national park, part of the KAZA transfrontier park

    Victoria Falls national park, Zimbabwe, Part of KAZA transfrontier park

    One of natures greatest spectacles, the Victoria falls lie within the national park that takes its name, and in turn is part of the vast Kalahari Zambezi Transfrontier park. The area around the falls contains a wealth of wildlife, Covering a total area of 56 000 hectares, both parks lie on the southern bank of the Zambezi River which forms the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. There are a number of picnic and fishing sites available. Activities include guided tours, walks, day and sunset cruises, game drives and adventure activities.

    The Rainforest – Here visitors can see unique flora and fauna. Bird species and small mammals may be spotted beneath the forest canopy whilst following the paths through the groves of Date Palm, Fig and Mahogany.

    The Game Park – Elephant, Lion, Buffalo, Leopard and White Rhino (the Big Five) can be seen in the park as well as herds of Eland, Sable Antelope, Zebra, Giraffe, Waterbuck and Kudu amongst other smaller species. The Zambezi River is known for its Bream and Tiger Fishing. There are two game drive routes, one accessed through the main gate and the other from just outside town on the Bulawayo road.

    aaa Valdes Peninsular

    Valdes peninsular

    The Valdes peninsular is a huge axe shaped slab of rock which sticks out 62 miles into the Atlantic from the coast of Argentina. With an area of 1390 square miles, and despite looking barren supports a surprising array of wildlife. Marine mammals include colonies of Southern elephant seals, fur seals, southern sea lions, penguins dolphins and orca congregate on shore and around the coast.

    Despite looking barren, the rock does have 130 species of plants growing on it. Guanacos graze here, and live alongside hares, harbour Rheas, Grey foxes, and even wildcats. There are also around 180 species of bird from both marine habitats and further inshore.

    aaa Yala park, Sri Lanka

    Yala park, Sri Lanka

    It is the most visited and second largest national park in Sri Lanka bordering the Indian Ocean. It is also boarded by two other parks which mean it creates a relatively large protected area. There are 44 species of mammal in the park including the Sri lankan elephant. It has one of the highest densities of leopards in the world, alongside sloth bears and white buffaloes. Toque macaques, golden palm civets, and fishing cats also live here. The results of a variety of 47 species of reptile 18 species of amphibian and 70 different wild birds species.

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