User login
Navigation
Donate
Newsletter
Popular content
Today's:
Recent blog posts
Active forum topics
Recent comments
Who's new
Who's online
There are currently 0 users and 15 guests online.
 |
Good Times Again   I flew up to Nairobi from Amboseli this morning. The Park and surrounding areas are looking gorgeous. It is green and lush. The grass is thick and there are new plants I don’t remember seeing before. It is such a contrast to the last six months of 2009. The elephants are rapidly recovering and some have clearly completely recovered. There are many females coming into oestrus and they have to be in good shape to do that. When they are in poor condition they stop reproductive cycling. Once their body fat reserves reach a certain point again the hormones kick in. They are definitely keeping the big males busy and breaking the hearts of the younger males. Being out with the elephants is a joy once again. They are moving in big groups in which there are high rates of social interaction. One of the days I was out I was with a group of about 75 individuals from 9:30 to 12:00 and all that time they didn’t feed at all. They socialized and played, mudwallowed and swam. The food must be so rich that they can take time off from feeding. Miraculously a few females have given birth in the last two months. I don’t know how they carried these calves through the drought. In the group of 75 there were three tiny calves and two of them were particularly fun to watch. Two female calves, the daughters of two sisters—Farida and Fortino--they were only three weeks old, but very active and unusually they were almost inseparable. Very young calves of this age stay close to their mothers and don’t start venturing away till they’re about two months old, but after suckling one or the other would leave her mother to find the other. If we hadn’t watched closely we would think they were twins.
|
Great News!
Thu, 2010-05-06 23:49 by Strider
I was expecting the worse after reading about the drought and its effect on the park's wildlife. I will be visiting Amboseli in July, and really looking forward to seeing happy, well fed elephants!
Good Times Again
Sat, 2010-04-10 07:00 by jpoole
I can just imagine being there with you - perfect!
Great Thanks
Fri, 2010-04-09 05:20 by runningstream
Thank you for the fantastic pictures of the babies and family members. I know we are all catching our breaths after being so tense going into the CITES conference. As you know so well, these happy interludes help to restore the soul-ours and the Ele's. The Elephants are the gift that keeps on giving and thank you again for sharing these happy times with your loyal supporters.
Rene
Good times again
Fri, 2010-04-09 03:29 by natalie Plunkett
Nothing makes me happier than to see the Elephants having a good time:)
NEW PIX
Thu, 2010-04-08 21:00 by Donna
are wonderful! Thank you, Cynthia, for them and the great news about the grasses. And speaking of Renata, have you seen Uncle Riley? And Donna? I'm so hoping each is fine and healthy again. Must be wonderful to sit with the ellies for two and a half hours while they are playing. Isn't "velvet" a wonderful fellow? So much enthuiasm and interest.
Uncle Riley
Sat, 2010-04-10 09:12 by cmoss
I saw Uncle Riley on April 5 and he was fine. He was one of the lucky ones who made it through the drought. I haven't seen the DB family but I will find out about Donna.
THANK YOU
Sat, 2010-04-10 20:19 by Donna
Cynthia. I am so glad Uncle Riley is fine and has not gone off on his own yet. He seems just a bit young, although I know it will happen sooner rather than later. I holding my breath about the DBs and Donna. I hope they all made it . I'm eager to hear.
Hi Donna
Thu, 2010-04-08 21:02 by velvet
Hi Donna. I used the user name for Velvet because at the time my one of my favorite elephants was velvet.
I LOVE
Thu, 2010-04-08 21:12 by Donna
elephants, too. So I am enjoying your interest and certainly encourage it. Elephants are the most magnificent of all the mammals in my view. I hope you can visit both the Sheldrick orphanage in Nairobi ( I have also adopted some orphans) and Amboseli one day. Both are so exciting to visit. And while you are in Nairobl, visit the Giraffe Center, also. That is another thrill.
Awesome!
Thu, 2010-04-08 15:54 by Shuger66
It is heart wrenching and amazing to witness this journey through the drought of 2009, albeit online, thank you Cynthia and everyone else who is an integral part of these elephants' lives, it was awesome to see Ely again, and like our new friend, the 10 year old boy from Alabama, I too see you as a hero and to know that you live amongst them and they accept you so graciously keeps me in perpetual awe...I have a thousand dollars saved so far towards my trip to Amboseli and the elephant orphanage, this trip is my gift to me from me for when I finish my master in social work degree in one year from now...I'm so excited that it's not just a dream, it's an experience of a lifetime that will happen!
With deep admiration...Noella :)
Nature can also be good
Thu, 2010-04-08 13:58 by Massago
Thank you Cynthia for these good news from Amboseli. It won't be possible to forget the drought of 2009 but this new year looks to be really better. And to know that calves or adults enjoy a lot actually make us to enjoy with them.
I am only worried about conflict between masaï population and elephants or lions. We often get bad news. How is the situation actually in Amboseli and around about conflicts ?
Right now in France, we can watch "Echo and the elephants of Amboseli" on TV. Today was episode 4. I can't miss one of them (I record all of them) and at 3:00pm every day, I stop to work to watch this wonderful program !
If I understand what you have written, some females are very strong to carry calf even during bad drought. Does it mean they were finding better place with more food than other females ? Was there a big competition between families ?
Great news!
Wed, 2010-04-07 19:02 by Jan
Great to hear things are looking better in Amboseli.
Is it too soon to be able to get a complete census to know which families or which members are missing, so you'll know the
real toll of the drought?
Do you know if Ely met up with any of his family?
News of the families
Thu, 2010-04-08 07:42 by cmoss
We don't know if Ely ever met up with his family. We think he stayed on the western side of the Park and is now back in Tanzania.
Norah and Soila are very busy doing censuses and we're close to knowing who died in the drought, at least with the females and calves. It is very hard to tell if a male is dead or just away somewhere. Look at Ely; we didn't see him for eight and a half years. We do know that the toll is terrible. We have recorded over 220 deaths up to now and there will be more when the censuses are complete.