By Sam Gerdts, Saint John’s University
The African elephant, Loxodonta africana, is the biggest herbivore mammal left on this planet we call Earth. Even though male bulls grow to be 5000kg in weight and over 3 meters in height, they can be as stealthy and silent as a mouse. One particular time when I noticed this trait was in Mogotlho camp in NG19 towards the beginning of the trip. I was sitting in a tent playing cards when I looked out the window and noticed a giant bull elephant standing 10 meters away from my tent. It amazes me how quiet one of the largest mammals in the world can really be. One of the reasons why they are so quiet is because their feet actually have a thick sole made up of fat that acts as a cushion for every step they make, allowing for silence and support for their weight.
Even though they are big animals, elephants can travel in very large herds. The biggest herd of elephants that I saw was a herd that was estimated to be more than 200. It was in the beginning of the program, but I can still remember it clear as day. The way we record elephants is a lot more elaborate than the way we record other mammals in the delta. Since elephants live to be nearly 60 years old, they have a wider age range, which is what we record more data on. We have a system to explain whether they are younger (0-1) or older (1-6) juveniles, younger (6-10) or older (10-20) sub-adults, and younger (20-35) or older (35+) adults. At first this was hard to determine, but after seeing so many you get pretty good at identifying the demographics. Being that elephants are considered a keystone species, one that plays a critical role in maintaining the structure of an ecological community, large herds of elephants have huge impacts on the ecosystems, which also labels them as ecosystem engineers. Essentially, elephants are a necessity to the ecosystem in the Okavango Delta. Their large size allows them to knock over branches and trees in areas that they walk through. This sounds like a problem, but it actually benefits the ecosystem allowing other species of plants to grow while creating more sources of food, protection, and nesting opportunities for other species.
Botswana is currently one of the best countries in terms of conservation practices around the world. In 2013 Botswana put a ban on the hunting in place. The reason why elephants would be hunted is for the ivory. The ivory is very valuable in certain parts of the world where it is used in traditional medicine. Even though the conservation of elephants is important, my instructor Sixteen, who is a local from the village Sankuyo, has told us that the rising population of elephants has created more and more human wildlife conflict, and since there is a hunting ban locals can’t eliminate the problem.
One afternoon, Addison Spitzer, Kristie Weeks, our instructor Kaggie and I had a late bird transect. When we were done collecting data we drove by a large watering hole where we ran into a herd of around 50 elephants. The cool thing about this herd was the how they were all washing and playing in the water. Elephants suck water into their nose, or trunk, and squirt it into their mouths to drink. The trunk is also used to eat by pulling off leaves from way up on top of trees or picking off of the ground. The trunk is utilized so much for resource consumption because the head is simply too big to bend down. Elephants will also throw water, dirt, or mud on their back in order to cool off in the middle of the hot day.
In the same herd at the watering hole we witnessed a juvenile elephant that Kaggie guessed was barely a week old. Even though it was a baby, I was still kind of impressed by the size of it. What was interesting was that wherever the mom went the baby would be right at her tail. The bond between a mother and offspring can endure for 50 years, which gives further evidence to the high intelligence of these beings.
Elephants have been my favorite animals throughout the duration of this program. There has been times when elephants are right next to the road that we are driving on and we end up 5-10 meters away from them in the car. Something they do when close to us is flare out there ears and lift there head in our direction. We have been told that this trait is a warning signal telling us that they don’t want trouble but are still aware of our presence, almost saying “don’t come any closer!”. The ears are a cooling mechanism for the elephant because there are many small and fine blood veins in the eras. When the elephant flaps its ears the blood gets cooled. It is estimated that it takes 15 minutes for all the blood in the body to be filtered through the ears and cooled off, which is pretty amazing. This is an amazing ability to have considering it reaches 100 degrees Fahrenheit on a daily basis here.
Elephants will remain one of my favorite animals from around the world. It isn’t just because of their cool nose that just happens to be really long and flexible, but also because of their adaptability to their environment. After being in Botswana for so long in the middle of the bush you realize how rough life is out here. The amazing aspect of elephants is that they’ve developed so many adaptations to their environment. It’s hard to say how long into the future they will remain, but I am hopeful that awareness will spread and the world will realize the importance of maintaining the survival of this species, along with many others.