Elly Telly: The Secret Life of Elephants
Radio Times
10—16 January 2009
My first experience of elephants was at six weeks old in Tanzania when, I’m told, a whoosh of warm air blew from a probing trunk inches away from my face, writes Saba Douglas-Hamilton.
The grass-scented gush must have embedded “elephant” firmly in my mind, for I’ve been captivated by them ever since. It wasn’t a chance meeting, as I was lucky to have an elephant-expert father [zoologist Iain Douglas-Hamilton] to teach me the ropes. He’s fought for their survival in the wild for more than 40 years, and it’s thanks to him that I’ve learnt most of what I know about elephants.
In 1997 we set up a unique research project in Samburu, north Kenya, combining novel scientific techniques with the knowledge of local nomads. International scientists and Samburu warriors make up our Save the Elephants field team. Team leader David Daballan can recognise more than 900 elephants. His observations are complemented by a tracking system that allows us to study elephant movement.
We follow them on the internet via what amounts to text messages sent out from the radio collars we’ve attached to them. We see them make epic “streaks” from one safe haven to another (mostly at night), or indulge in high-risk, high-gain crop raiding that can be dangerous to both elephant and human. We’re able to drive out from our research centre in the heart of Samburu national reserve and find them straight away. It’s allowed us to peer into the hidden world of elephant choices – insights that we share in this new BBC series.
We already know that elephants have the largest brains of all terrestrial mammals, that grow slowly when they’re calves. Elephants can live up to 60 years in the wild, and a good memory is key to their survival.
A wise old matriarch, Harmattan of the Winds, carries her knowledge like an ancient library of parchments and scrolls; a memory bank of how to behave in different circumstances. We meet her newborn calf, Breeze, on its first day of life, but in the dry season, times are tough. When the elephants head out of the reserve into a hostile area, it’s only Harmattan’s detailed mental map of the seasonal location of food, water and dangerous human settlement that keeps her family alive.
But the landscape is complex and ever-changing. So on occasions we have to intervene to protect the elephants. In the film we see a lone
bull elephant risking its life as it runs from the safety of a forest reserve on the slopes of Mount Kenya, through small subsistence farms and giant wheat fields, to break through an electric fence into a wildlife ranch, where he’s sure to find females in heat. Mount Bull, as we’ve named
him, is one of the most difficult and elusive elephants we’ve collared, so I follow his trail to see what he’s up to.
The subsistence farmers I meet, whose crops have been raided, are surprisingly sympathetic. They say, “The elephant must eat, for he has no-one to cook for him!”
To deal with this conflict between man and elephant we’ve again embraced technology. We call it “geofencing” and it may help save Mount Bull and others like him. Instead of a fence, we draw a no-go line on a virtual map. When Mount Bull crosses it, a message is transmitted to us from his radio collar so now, with a bit of forewarning, farmers can take action. If met with loud bangs, shouts and fire, elephants learn to avoid crops.
Sadly, other bulls are not so lucky. When one of our biggest males, the grand tusker Mungu, dies in suspicious circumstances, poachers are suspected. Our chief investigator, Onesmas Kahindi, has evidence that illegal killing is on the rise, with bull elephants particularly hit.
So what happens when elephants die? Do other family members really mourn? When a matriarch dies in the film, her bewildered calves stay by the body as one unrelated family after another comes to investigate. Silently absorbed, they surround the corpse, none daring to touch it until, right at the end, a young bull pulls gently at her ear. Their compulsion to “help” the ailing or “pay respect” to the dead is more than mere curiosity.
It’s not only a question of kinship, as elephants display the same behaviour towards dead strangers. Compassion is certainly evident, and it’s even possible they have a sense of their own mortality. It points to a certain kind of consciousness, which is a whole new dimension of elephant minds that we’re exploring.
In a terrifying threat display we see elephants expose themselves to danger to protect their loved ones and ward off a threat. Yet this fury can swiftly dissipate and be reversed into spinning around and running away with head and tail held high. Learning to distinguish real intention from bluff is critical in our research, but this intimate interface with elephants is what makes Samburu all the more exceptional. The reserve is a wildlife paradise, and with the emergence of our young Samburu field team as the foremost experts, a new generation of elephant ambassadors is born.
For more information on Save the Elephants' new BBC film series, "The Secret Life of Elephants" that is showing on BBC 1 at 9.00 pm on Wednesday the 14th, 21st and 28th January 2009, please visit:
