When visiting Chobe National Park, you will be visiting the home of thousands of elephants.  We have written numberous articles about photographing them and also how to safely approach and avoid problems.  We also frequently follow the local group, Elephants Without Borders, and post stories of their activity.

Another group that does elephant research in northern Botswana is Elephants for Africa.  Today’s education article is from their site and hopefully will increase your knowledge of earth’s largest terrestrial animal.

African Savannah Elephant (Loxodonta africana) – The word Ele-phant means Great Arch It is the largest living land mammal in the world and the males can grow to 4.1m in height and weigh up to 7 tonnes; females are a mere 3.5 tonnes.

Elephant crossing a dusk - © Justin Eleazer

Apart from their colossal size, the most obvious features are their trunks and tusks. The trunk is a fusion of the upper lip and elongated nose. It weighs up to 140kg and can be a deadly weapon. However, it can also pick up a feather, offer comfort to a distressed calf, push over a tree and hold 12 litres of water. It contains at least 50,000 individual muscle units.

Close up of trunk and tusks - © P. B. Eleazer

The tusks are present in both male and female African elephants and are elongated incisor teeth. They first appear at about two years of age and are a mixture of dentine, cartilaginous material and calcium salts. The males’ tusks can be over 100kg in weight. They have been long sought after by man to carve into ornaments and piano keys amongst other things. Man’s greed for ivory has led to a massive decrease in elephant populations throughout the world. In the late 1970’s there were 1.3 million elephants; now there are only an estimated 400-600,000.

FAMILY LIFE

Family Time - Drinking along the Chobe - © P. B. Eleazer

The females and their young live in herds. There tends to be one leader, the ‘Matriarch’ who is often the oldest female, mother and grandmother to the rest of the herd members. Being the oldest she has the depth of knowledge that will ensure the survival of herd in times of hardship; taking them to water and food sources beyond their usual range. Whilst the young females will usually stay with the herd, the males leave the herd during adolescence (between the ages of 10 and 19 years) and lead the life of a more solitary ‘bull’ elephant.

Solitary Bull on Sududu Island, Chobe National Park - © P. B. Eleazer

COMMUNICATION

Elephants are highly intelligent, social animals and use a variety of means to communicate amongst themselves over vast distances (up to 14km). Like humans they ‘talk’; so far 70 different calls have been identified by researchers, from the loud trumpets of panic to the comforting rumbles of reassurance. They also pick up information from smells that their trunks are very sensitive to: a male can tell when a female is in oestrous (ready to mate) from the chemical signs she leaves in her urine and faeces. This combined with the characteristic calls of that time, ensure that all the likely suitors will come to try and win her affections. Recent evidence suggests that they may be able to communicate though seismic waves that pass though the ground and which they pick up though their sensitive feet.

OTHER INTERESTING FACTS

• Elephant skin is up to 2.5 cm thick in places but, despite this, elephants are very prone to skin parasites and use mud and dust baths to try and get rid of them as well as to cool off.
• Daily food intake is 4-7% of bodyweight which, when you are an elephant, equates to an awful lot of food.
• A single elephant deposits upwards of 150kg of dung every day.
• The ears have lots of blood pumping though them to cool the elephant down.
• The more the ears flap the hotter the elephant is.
• Elephants are herbivores and therefore only eat grasses, herbs, fruit, plants and trees.
• Their brain weighs 4-6 kg
• The life span is very similar to humans; living to between 60 and 70 years.
• Females can give birth to as many as 12 offspring and generally start breeding at 15/16 years of age.
• The gestation period is 22 months.
• Males come into their prime at 30-35 years of age and experience periods of ‘Musth’, which is when they concentrate on finding females. This can last for six months in the dominant males and they will often stop feeding for days at a time during this period.
• They can walk up to 195 km per day, although the average is only 25 km.
• Speeds of 40mph can be reached.
• Elephant have six sets of teeth that grow one set after another, throughout their lives. By the time they reach their 50s, most elephant have started to use their final set.
• Elephants once populated the whole of Africa.
• There are three species of elephant in the world:
  

  o African savanna, Loxodonta africana

  o African forest, Loxodonta cyclotis

  o Asian, Elephas maximus

• They inhabit 37 African countries and 13 Asian.
• Closest relative is the Hyraxes, Aardvarks and Manatees.

Elephant at Sunset - ©Justin Eleazer

Thanks to Elephants for Africa for the above information.  By the way, you may wonder what the research objectives of that organization are.  For your further education, here is the answers:

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES of Elephants For Africa:

• Botswana is home to the largest remaining elephant population in the world. This project will provide information to enable a realistic elephant conservation programme to be implemented in Botswana, ensuring that this population remains for generations to come.
• Address a priority research concern of the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism.
• Investigate the viability of the release of adolescent habituated males into the area.
• Address the long-term issues that face EBS and other captive elephants, as well as the ethical implications of translocation and repopulation programmes throughout Africa.
• Monitor and analyse the behaviour of adolescent males. In particular, the departure and subsequent integration of pubescent males from their natal herd into the complex social structure of adult males, an area of research that has received little attention to date. Information on this important aspect of elephant ecology can only advance our understanding and therefore, the conservation of these majestic animals.
• Monitor and analyse the population dynamics and movements of elephant in and around NG 26 in the Okavango Delta.
• Determine habitat utilization. All encounters with elephants are logged, recording location, numbers, sex and age and habitat selection. The affects of season, sex and age on habitat utilisation will be analyzed.

How Can You Help?

Elephants for Africa research monitors the elephants of the Okavango Delta Botswana, releases captive elephants into the wild and provides vital information for their long-term conservation. All proceeds go towards the running costs of the field research.

There are several ways you can help Elephant Research :

• by Adopting an Elephant,
• by buying this years or next years Calendar,
• by buying a wonderful Limited Edition Print,
• by buying a pack of Notelets,
• by buying the exquisite ‘Elephants of Africa’ book,
• Recycling your printer cartridges and old mobile phones,
• or just by a random act of kindness with a donation.

Sir Seretse Khama Airport, Gaborone, Ghanzi, Francistown, Mahalapye, Maun and Shakawe areas will have minimum temperatures of not more than 10 Degree Celsius in June and a maximum temperature of not more that 26 Degree Celsius.

In July, Gaborone, Ghanzi, Francistown, Sir Seretse Khama Airport and Mahalapye will have minimum temperatures of not more than 5 Degree Celsius, while Maun and Shakawe will be about 8 Degree Celsius.  Still in July, maximum temperatures for most areas is expected to be not more than 23  Degree Celsius except for Maun and Shakawe which will have a maximum of about 26  Degree Celsius.

However, Kasane will be warmer with the highest temperatures throughout the season, recording a minimum of 10 Degree Celsius in June and 9.4 Degree Celsius in July.  Maximum temperatures will be 26.2 Degree Celsius in June and 26.1 Degree Celsius in July.

Map, showing NG18 and NG20, courtesy of Wilderness Safaris

From Grant:

Lions photographed in NG18 a few weeks ago - photo © Grant Atkinson

Some of the most important wildlife areas in Northern Botswana are associated with two major river systems. In the very north of the country is the Linyanti River and its distributaries, the Savuti and Selinda. To the south of these rivers lies the Okavango Delta. Much of the land within these areas has been divided up into private concession areas. The concession areas are leased from either the government *or* the local communities. They can be utilized either for photographic safaris *or* for the purpose of controlled hunting.

Within the last year, all hunting operations came to an end in two concession areas named NG18 and NG20. As can be clearly seen from the map above, these two concession areas lie directly between the two major river systems mentioned above, the Linyanti and the Okavango. Both NG18 and NG20 are very large concessions and are home to good numbers of wildlife. NG20 was divided up between photographic camps and some hunting camps. Importantly, they are surrounded by Moremi Game Reserve, the Selinda and Linyanti private concessions, and Chobe National Park.

This is good news for the photographic safari industry. These two areas both have extensive riverfront areas that make ideal locations for low-volume photographic camps and NG20 is already home to some very well-known camps.

Most importantly though, it means that for wildlife there now exists a hunting-free zone which extends from the Moremi Game Reserve all the way to the country’s northern boundary, the Linyanti River. The changes in land-use in these concession areas will be of most benefit to animals like large bull elephants, buffalo and leopard – all species that may have been hunted in the past. Hunting in Botswana is strictly controlled but still has some impact on the wildlife that is targeted.

In these days of ever-increasing pressure upon wildlife refuges, especially from growing human populations, changes such as these are extremely valuable. The bigger and more effective the protected areas become, the greater their value in all respects.

The following press release was issued today by the Government of Botswana Press Agency, BOPA.

28 April, 2010

Click here to view the embedded video.

This 77 piece puzzle is of one of my favorite shots.

Translations from the government paper: Botswana Daily News Online:
GUMARE – The use of chili pepper to repel elephants from fields in northern Botswana has reduced crop damage cases by 50 per cent since last year.

Ngamiland Senior Biologist, Dr Gaseitsiwe Masunga said in an interview that elephants are sensitive to smell and the hot smell from the chili-pepper of the tobacco variety is enough to cause irritation and repulsive effect on elephants.

He said, because of the persistent elephant-human conflict in the region, they have benchmarked with their counterparts in Zambia where local officers were drilled on different techniques of using pepper to ward off elephants.

One of the techniques, is planting pepper alongside the inside perimeter of a farm to act as a buffer when ripe, or it can be crushed and mixed with dung then molded into bricks to be ignited when dry to chase elephants away.

He said crushed chili-pepper can also be mixed with oil and mutton cloth used to suck the mixture and pieces of the soaked mutton cloth are then hung on the fence line along the boundary of the farm fence.

The move has also borne fruits as human elephant cases are going down and money paid to farmers as compensation has also decreased from P153 191.25 in October 2008 to P83 128.30 in January 2009.

Dr. Masunga said since 2007, 69 farmers have been trained on the use of pepper and so far over 224 farmers within Ngamiland have also been given chilli-pepper and the number is increasing on a daily basis as more farmers come to wildlife offices to ask for chilli-pepper seeds, which is an indication that it is effective.

Dr. Masunga stated that there are 30 farms in Seronga, Sepopa, Etsha, and Gumare that were selected for conducting chili pepper trials based on their vulnerability to elephant attacks. He said measures taken to address this problem include use of the chilli- pepper in addition to other measures such as use of metal bangers and stopping of crop cultivation within river-beds and other known elephant’s movement corridors.

Dr. Masunga said environmental risks especially in the Okavango delta are minimal since the seeds and elephants are sensitive to water-lodging. Meanwhile, he said, chili-peppers that were planted in 2005 and 2006 are still growing well, adding that farmers are now selling them in the local market or sharing the surplus yield with other farmers. He said they monitoring the use of chili-peppers to guard against dispersal to sensitive natural habitats.

Article copyright and source: BOPA

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A guidelines manual and certificate system is in place to encourage tourism companies to comply with recognized environmental standards

During the dry season in Chobe National Park, the third largest in Botswana, as many as 120,000 elephants migrate over 200 kilometers in search of rain and water.

This spectacle is one of a number of attractions luring tourists to this national park, which is divided into four eco systems and is home to a wide variety of other animals from predators such as lions, hyenas and jackals to other species including wildebeests, waterbucks and warthogs.

Due West of this Park is the Okavango Delta – the world’s biggest inland delta – which empties into the vast Kalahari Desert. Every year the delta empties about 15,000 square kilometers of water into this otherwise arid desert.

These attractions, alongside an abundance of other wildlife and wilderness, entice an increasing number of travelers to Botswana.

Detective provokes interest

The international success of Alexander McCall Smith’s novel, ‘The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency’ set in the country’s capital Gaborone, has also added to the international interest in this sub-Saharan country.

Whilst growth in tourism is providing an important contribution to its economy – exporting diamonds remains the dominant sector – the Botswana Tourism Board and Ministry of Tourism also want sufficient efforts to be made that ensure the environment is sustained in the long-term.

The Tourism Board consequently implemented a national strategy in 2002 focusing on what needs to be done to make certain that Botswana’s tourism continues to be environmentally driven.

“We wanted an accepted and consistent understanding of what we mean by eco-tourism. Otherwise there is a danger that companies will all start calling themselves ‘environmentally friendly’ when in fact none of them are complying to the same standards,” says Myra Sekgororoane, Chief Executive Officer of the Tourism Board.

Subscribing to recognized standards

With this in mind, the Ministry of Tourism requested assistance from the Commonwealth Secretariat to create a guidelines manual and a certificate system for companies. This manual, which acts as a reference for all tourism companies working in Botswana, looks at areas like water and energy management.

Botswana is home to the majority of mammal species from Southern Africa because the Okavango Delta and Chobe River provide a year-round water supply.

If companies comply with these ‘best practices’ laid out in the manual they will be given a certificate – similar to the star rating used by hotels – so that tourists can recognize that they are subscribing to recognized standards.

“What has been quite evident in the last couple of years is that the international community is more and more interested in looking at whether certain environmental standards are being met,” explains Ms Sekgororoane.

Long-haul tourist

One traveling trend the Tourism Board is particularly aware of is that many long-haul tourists tend to visit two or three countries during one trip. While Botswana has a significant amount to offer visitors, as a land locked country it recognizes that it cannot provide the option of a beach, sea or ocean.

This has led to discussions with neighboring countries about establishing a regional body which could help sub-Saharan countries conform to the same eco-tourism standards laid out in the guidelines manual.

“It is easier to penetrate different tourism markets if we have regional policies and opposed to national ones. By working together, countries in sub-Saharan Africa will appeal more of these long haul travelers if they can be seen to be working together and subscribing to the same set of environmental principles,” says Tshenolo Mopako, Environment & Safety Officer at the Tourism Board.

This has already been achieved with a memorandum concerning the Kalahari Transfrontier Park which covers Botswana and South Africa. An obstructive boarder fence was taken down so that proceeds and environmental management responsibilities are now shared between these neighboring countries. This allows both to benefit and causes less stress for the tourist visiting the Park, who will no longer need to concern themselves with boarder restrictions.

The manuals and certificate system – which were also funded by the Commonwealth Secretariat – have recently been completed, leaving the Tourism Board in a position to advocate their uses to companies across the country and even the region.

“We are currently going out telling businesses about the benefits of the manual and the certificate,” says Mr. Mopako. “Ultimately when these businesses have taken advantage of this, we can then back away.”

Copyright © 2008 Commonwealth News and Information Service. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).