Save the elephant

After (Now)

Elephant without its Tusks

Before

Ahmed in Marsabit-Kenya 1973

Ivory is approximately $200-$375.00 per inch, $3,000 per Kilo, or $1,500 perpound.

Carved Ivory used to make religious sculptures, in China.

Elephants are evolving smaller tusks to protect themselves from poaching.

 

Massive pile of Ivory Tusks

Baby Elephant

Help save the elephants

The Games End

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U.S. to crush Ivory in an effort to help save elephants

U.S. Will Crush Ivory to Save Elephants

Authorities Hope Destroying Ivory Could Hurt Illegal Market

By Charlotte Alter @charlottealterSept. 10, 20131 Comment

U.S. officials in Denver plan to pulverize more than six tons of ivory in order to fight illegal wildlife trafficking and save elephants.

The New York Times reports that the Fish and Wildlife Service has seized the ivory in order to publicly crack down on the illegal $10 billion industry. The confiscated items include carved tusks and other art objects, which will be crushed by rock grinders in October.

The seizure is part of a major push to combat the killing of protected wildlife, announced by President Obama on July 1. Officials said they will give $10 million to fight poaching in Africa, work with Asian countries to outlaw ivory trinkets, and more carefully monitor elephant populations.

The decision to destroy the confiscated ivory is controversial, and some question whether it will do anything to limit demand for ivory or make a dent in the worldwide black market. Authorities plan to use some of the ivory to make a memorial to slaughtered elephants.

Source: http://nation.time.com/2013/09/10/u-s-will-crush-ivory-to-save-elephants/

Name That Elephant: How to Identify Elephants in the Wild

Like Mothers Like Daughters



Photograph Courtesy of ElephantVoices

 

As with other mammals, mothers and their children may look similar. In this family portrait taken in Amboseli, the mother elephant, Echo (far right) shares many physical characteristics with her daughters, Erin (to her immediate left) and Enid. This mother-daughter trio all have long tusks, Poole said, with the right one slightly higher than the left.

Citizen Science in Action



Photograph Courtesy of Kerstin Bucher

Kerstin Bucher, the German anesthesiologist and citizen scientist, named this female Tumaini, meaning “Hope” in Swahili. “She is really easy to recognize due to her remarkable tusks, especially the left one which is up curved and higher,” Bucher said. “I think everybody knows her as the female with the wonky left tusk!”



Photograph Courtesy of Kerstin Bucher

 

Bucher named her favorite elephant matriarch, Sian, through the ElephantVoices project. “She is not the largest elephant cow I have ever seen in my life, but she is definitely the most beautiful and most dignified matriarch.”

Learn more about the ElephantVoices project in the Mara.

Joyce Poole has created a video tutorial about identifying elephants and using the database.

Name That Elephant: How to Identify Elephants in the Wild

 

Veins, a Unique Elephant Fingerprint



Photograph Courtesy of ElephantVoices

 

Sharp photographs in good light reveal the pattern of veins on an elephant’s ears, which are as unique as our human fingerprints. “With a bit of sleuthing,” Poole said, “even years and new notches and tears later, an elephant can be reidentified using these vein patterns.”

Tusks

 



Photograph Courtesy of ElephantVoices

An elephant’s tusks don’t start to take shape until they are around eight to ten years old. Tusks vary in shape and size: They may curve upward, grow inward, go straight down, or be missing altogether. Tusks may break and grow back too, which makes them less reliable than ears, Poole said. Kegol (meaning “powerful and strong” in the Maasai language), the large adult male at right, has tusks that are convergent, or curve inward, while Big Mama, the large female at left, has straighter tusks, with the left tusk shorter.

It is rare for a male African elephant to be “tuskless,” but this inherited trait is seen in females. Since poachers kill elephants with tusks, the degree of tusklessness is a good indicator of the level of ivory poaching a population has experienced. “Sadly this trait is increasing across Africa,” said Poole, “but we can’t depend on this inherited trait to save elephants from extinction since, as it is a sex-linked gene, it doesn’t protect males.”

Source: Posted by Christy Ullrich of National Geographic in A Voice for Elephants on August 16, 2013 http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/08/16/name-that-elephant-how-to-identify-elephants-in-the-wild/

Battle for the Elephants Episode 4: Massive Ivory Stockpile

Here is the final video in the mini series of the exploration of the Ivory controversy.

How to identify elephants in the wild

 Ears Matter



Photographer Courtesy of ElephantVoices

Elephant ears can come in all shapes and sizes.

Ears may be pointed, round, or bulging, and the lower lobes may curl in or out.  Some are completely smooth at the edge. Others may be marked with a notch or tear, like those of Selengei, the large adult female elephant on the right, who is named after Poole and Granli’s daughter. (Selengei is a Maasai word meaning a young girl of marriageable age; it is also the name of a river near Amboseli, where Poole and Granli had worked.)

Some ears have serrated, ragged edges, such as those on the adult female seen in the photo at left. Notches, tears, and even holes distinguish elephant ears too. Selengei has a flap-cut visible in her left ear and ear lobes that curl outward, while the lobes of the female with serrated ears curve inward.

Source: http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/08/16/name-that-elephant-how-to-identify-elephants-in-the-wild/

Here’s what to look for when identifying elephants

Here’s what to look for when identifying elephants.

Ears Matter


Photographer Courtesy of ElephantVoices

Elephant ears can come in all shapes and sizes.



Ears may be pointed, round, or bulging, and the lower lobes may curl in or out. Some are completely smooth at the edge. Others may be marked with a notch or tear, like those of Selengei, the large adult female elephant on the right, who is named after Poole and Granli’s daughter. (Selengei is a Maasai word meaning a young girl of marriageable age; it is also the name of a river near Amboseli, where Poole and Granli had worked.)

Some ears have serrated, ragged edges, such as those on the adult female seen in the photo at left. Notches, tears, and even holes distinguish elephant ears too. Selengei has a flap-cut visible in her left ear and ear lobes that curl outward, while the lobes of the female with serrated ears curve inward.