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September 1995 |
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September 1995
North Luangwa National Park
Dear Everybody,
Do you remember Gift, the female elephant we told you about last year? She is an orphan who lived with a group of males for several years because her entire family was shot by poachers. Now Gift has a baby whom we have named "Georgia".
Not long ago Gift and Georgia wandered into our camp to feed on the marula fruits that covered the ground like sweet, ripe Golden Delicious apples. Gift swept the grass with her trunk until she found a fruit. Deftly curling her trunk toward her mouth, she tossed the marula back as though it were popcorn. But little Georgia was much less adept at this. Her rubbery little trunk twitched about -- more like the nose of an overgrown shrew than a trunk -- until she managed to pick up a fruit. Having watched Mom, she curled her trunk toward her mouth, let fly with the fruit -- and not only missed her mouth, but her entire head, the marula bouncing across the ground behind her. Patiently she found another fruit. This time it sailed between her stumpy legs. Again and again she tried, marula fruits bouncing like ground balls in a baseball game as she circled her mother in search of more fruit for practice. When finally she managed to score a hit, she closed her eyes, smacking loudly as she chewed.
When Gift and Georgia come to camp they are fun to watch. But they are much more than entertaining. Sadly, their small family, made only of themselves, is representative of the fragmented social structure of the North Luangwa elephant population. The social disintegration induced by heavy poaching has left the Luangwa elephants in a reproductive slump.
Female elephants naturally live in tight matriarchal family units: grandmothers, mothers, sisters and their offspring staying together for generations. Young females usually have their first calves when they are about fourteen to fifteen years of age. They raise their young under the umbrella of security and assistance provided by their elders, who teach them much about appropriate maternal behavior.
But, in North Luangwa, only about 14% of the elephants are more than fifteen years old. Most of the older, more experienced individuals have been poached, and their collective knowledge about where to find water, browse, minerals and other seasonal resources has died with them. Consequently, Gift has no one to teach her about mothering. This greatly limits Georgia's chances of survival. Gift is not alone in her predicament; many other young mothers are on their own, or with other adolescent non-relatives.
The summary effect of heavy poaching has not only been the slaughter of the largest and most fit and knowledgeable individuals; it has also fragmented and dispersed survivors to such an extent that they may not be reproducing frequently enough, or caring for their young well enough to bring the population back from the brink of extinction. It could take 50 years or more for the population to fully recover. Only time and further study will tell.
The good news is that villagers are seeing elephants, buffalos, hippos and other animals in areas where they have not been seen for twenty, even thirty years. Chief Mukungule, whose hut is about ten miles west of the park, recently wrote to thank the North Luangwa Conservation Project and the Mano game scouts. It seems the Chief woke one morning to find his hut surrounded by a family of elephants, the first he had seen in his village in many years.
The next few years will be crucial for the elephants: If, despite the protection we have given them, a recovery does not begin soon, it could be that a viable breeding population does not exist. In that event, we would consider translocating additional family groups to North Luangwa.
It is clear that the continued protection being offered by the international ivory ban is essential. Black market ivory is currently worth less than $2.00 per pound in our area, as compared with $200 per pound just prior to the ban in 1991. Mano scouts recently captured four commercial poachers, one of whom had killed more than fifty elephants, but none of whom have killed an elephant in the past fourteen months. All have given up poaching elephants because the ban has made ivory virtually worthless. THE BAN IS WORKING.
Only one elephant has been poached in North Luangwa since September 1994. So, with your support, and with the help of the ivory ban, we are winning big. Our Community Development Program, which provides alternative employment to poachers and other villagers, is more successful than ever. Sunflower cooking oil presses are one of our most popular village industries. A family is trained to operate the press and then given a loan to purchase one. Other families grow seeds to sell to the press owner. He then presses the seeds and sells oil back to his fellow villagers. And these former poachers are turning in any villagers who continue to poach! We never thought we would live long enough to see this!
Currently we need four right hand drive pick-up trucks to supply game scouts' camps, for use in Community Development, Conservation Education, Rural Health, and Research and Management. If you can help us with a direct contribution, or if you know of anyone who might donate one or more of these vehicles, it would assist us greatly. Thank you for whatever you can do.
We never take an elephant for granted; every one is special, and they are still here because of your support. We never take you for granted either. Thank you for standing behind us through the years.
Cheers from the bush!
Mark and Delia
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