Sammy's Natural World: World Elephant Day

Mirembe (left), aged 3 months here, and her half-sister Manzi (September 2014)

Herd Life

7th June 2014, Howletts Wild Animal Park, Canterbury

24-hour-old Mirembe

It was a very wet and horrid Saturday morning, but one that I will remember for the rest of my days. In fact, I'd say that this date was possibly the best of my gap year, one of the best of my life. I'd just come to Howletts (one of the parks set up by the legendary late John Aspinall and now run by the Aspinall Foundation) for another day of volunteering, and because of the weather, there was hardly anyone around. Yet I was taken away when I was told that Tammi, one of the cows in the African elephant herd, had given birth to a calf that very morning. Later on in the day, I got to see this calf for the first time. She was eight hours old, covered in down, with her eyes looking enormous compared to the rest of her. My breath was taken away. She was beautiful. I have no pictures, obviously, of when she was eight hours old. However, I do have a picture of her at 24 hours old, when my family decided to spend an afternoon at the park.

Mchumba, the matriarch's son (April 2015)

Mirembe is Tammi's calf, as I've already said. Tammi also has two other daughters at the park, Uzuri (who is 7- I remember going to the park in February half term of 2008 when she was a week old) and Jara. These four ladies are part of a herd of thirteen, making it the largest herd of elephants in the UK. The matriarch is Masa (who has a young son called Mchumba), the bull is Jums (who, at nearly 4 metres tall and weighing in at practically 6 tons, is no little elephant!), and there is another mature female called Shibi. There is also Jama, Etana, Juluka, Impi and Manzi. The matriarch rules the roost, and she is the oldest and most experienced female. The herd is then made up of mature females, their daughters and immature males. Bulls can either be solitary or form bachelor groups. The herd life of an elephant is very complex, very social and just plain beautiful. It's not just how the African elephant is socialised, but in the smaller Asian elephant, too.

Jama (left) and Etana, August 2015

Two Types of Elephant

These days, there are two types of elephant that are very different from each other. There's the larger, more familiar African elephant, and there's the smaller, rarer Asian elephant. There are several differences between them, other than just size. These are just a few (as a list of differences between the two different types would be a blog post in itself!).

African elephant

- Both genders grow visible tusks, which are generally larger in the males

- Has two "fingers" on its trunk

- Enormous ears which reach over the neck

- Has no "humped" structures on its head

- Has more wrinkled skin

Asian elephant

- Only males grow the tusks. Females will have either none or barely visible ones, adorably called "tushes"

- Has one "finger" on its trunk

- Comparatively tiny ears which do not reach over the neck

- Has humped structures on its head

- The skin is comparatively smooth skin

The matriarch Asian elephant at Whipsnade (9th August 2015)

Masa, the matriarch African elephant at Howletts (June 2015). Note
how different both ladies really are!

Elephants Under Threat

And Stuff You Can Do To Help

African elephants are classified as "Vulnerable" to extinction by the IUCN, whereas the Asian ele is "Endangered". We all know how they're very prone to poachers for their tusks which are sought after in the ivory trade. However, there are other factors at play here.

- Fragmentation and disappearance of habitat

- Conflict with humans over resources

Asian elephants are also taken for elephant rides, which is also immensely cruel. This can explain it better than I can