After years of debate and uncertainty, SANParks has confirmed that there is just one remaining elephant in the Knysna forest. This finding comes after a team of scientists conducted a study using camera-trap technology to capture the lone elephant.
Lizette Moolman, a SANParks scientist, says, ‘The Knysna elephant is of the same subspecies as all the other elephant populations in South Africa, namely Loxodonta africana.’ The camera-trap technology was strategically placed along the Knysna elephant range, and Moolman says, ‘because elephants move along defined elephant pathways, we placed our cameras on these paths and covered the elephant range evenly, with spaces between camera traps no larger than the smallest range recorded for elephants.’
The study was conducted over a 15-month period, where the elephant was photographed 140 times, always on its own. ‘No other elephants were photographically captured, says Moolman. The adult elephant has been identified as a female and is around 45 years old. According to Moolman she has been moving between the forest, fynbos and private land that neighbours the forest.
SANParks has been holding workshops to discuss the elephant’s future with various stakeholder groups. Head of Scientific Services Stef Freitag-Ronaldson has stated that ‘the situation is complex, with many unknowns’.
Elephants are, by nature, family-oriented mammals, and herds have a matriarchal leader. Elephant families consist of the matriarch, her sisters, daughters, and babies. Family herds do however welcome in non-family members. As ellies are social animals, the fact that this female has been on her own for an undetermined time could have had detrimental effects on her well-being.
For more information on this elephant’s story, watch the video below.
Update: After publishing this post we were made aware of wildlife expert and author of The Secret Elephants, Gareth Patterson’s response to a similar article on Business Day. This is what he had to say:
Image source: Pixabay
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