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.