Good Times Again

cmoss's picture
Wed, 2010-04-07 17:55 by cmoss
Time to Mudwallow and Play Inseparable Cousins

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!

Qualida and family

Mon, 2010-05-03 00:45 by velvet

Is Qualida from the QB family

Eggnog

Fri, 2010-04-16 23:45 by velvet

Eggnog was born to Ella in July, 2007. He was named after the beverage.

EB family

Thu, 2010-04-15 20:25 by nicola

who is evaline mother?
when was evaline born?

Evaline

Fri, 2010-04-16 23:34 by velvet

Evaline was born 2008 to first time mother Elettra born to Ella in 1995. She is Ella's 5 calf. Her sisters are Emma. Her brothers are Edward Norton, Eggnog, 2009 calf, Eric and Ewan. Emma is the mother of Evita, 2009 calf, 1999 calf*.

eggnog

Fri, 2010-04-16 23:41 by nicola

when was eggnog born?

what family is chloe

Wed, 2010-04-14 21:37 by nicola

what family is chloe from?
who is chloe mother?
when was chloe born?
does chloe have any offspring?
who is vladimir?

clohe

Thu, 2010-04-15 12:18 by velvet

Chloe is a part of the CB family. Chloe is the matriarch of that herd so she probably would have had calves.

who is Iain? who is

Wed, 2010-04-14 21:33 by nicola

who is Iain?
who is sioma?
who is xala?
who is lexi?
what family is mr nick from?
who is paolo?
who is phoebe?
who is phyllis?
who is tolstoy?
who is mr masaku?
who is temporin?
who is salong?
who is pilar?

who is vostok? who is

Wed, 2010-04-14 21:12 by nicola

who is vostok?
who is periscope?
what family is dionysus from?
who is dionysus mother?
who is david?

Vostok and others.

Fri, 2010-04-16 12:13 by velvet

Vostok is a male elephant from the Va family. No one knows what family or who Dionysus' mother was. David is mentioned in the book, Elephant Memories. So you can look, or buy the book. I don't know much about Periscope but you can ask some one else who she is. She is from the P family and female. Dionysus died October 21, 2003, in his early 60's. Iain use to be the tallest male in the population. Phoebe has been matriarch of the Pc's since 1982. Penelope, who was the matriarch of the PA's split into two groups, the PA's lead by Penelope, a group of 16, and the PC's lead by Phoebe, a group of 13. Penelope died in 2002, but she left behind a calf, born in 2000. Phoebe is a mother also. Philomena is the mother of Pamela, who died at the age of 17, in 1979. Philomena is the matriarch of the PA now that Penelope died. Phoebe is still the matriarch of her herd. Penelope had a calf on March 22, 1980. Penelope was an older experienced female with several calves. Xala was born in 1963. She has broke her leg, the first time the team first saw her, December 5, 1973. Xala is better and still a vigorous and young female still raising offspring.

xala

Fri, 2010-04-16 21:27 by nicola

what family is xala from?

Xala

Fri, 2010-04-16 22:00 by velvet

Xala is from the XA family.

xenia

Fri, 2010-04-16 22:17 by nicola

who is xenia?

msowers's picture

Xenia

Fri, 2010-04-16 22:34 by msowers

Xenia was the matriarch of XA family. We saw her with a spear wound when I was in Amboseli last summer and she later died.

Xenai and Xala

Fri, 2010-04-16 22:47 by velvet

What are Xenia and Xala offspring?
How old was Xenia
What is the name of Jemima's 2003 calf?
Did she survive the 2009 drought?

elephants

Tue, 2010-04-13 00:08 by nicola

what family is qualida from?
when was qualida born?
who is qualidas mother?
does qualida have any offspring?
who is alison mother?
who are alison offspring?
who is alicia mother?
who are alicia offspring?
are alison and alicia from the AA family?
what family is isaiah from?
who is isiah mother?
when was isaiah born?
what family is ina from?
when was ina born?
who is inas mother?
does ina have any offspring?

Qualida

Wed, 2010-04-14 21:09 by velvet

can anyone tell me what Qualida's calves are. What year was she born. All I know is that she was stuck in the mud trap. I would like to learn a lot about her. is one of her calves Sinya?

elephants

Tue, 2010-04-13 01:42 by velvet

Yes Alicia and Alison are from the AA family. Alicia gave birth to a calf. The calf was taken by its mother to the swamp, with out Alicia's family and it drowned. That was Alicia's first calf. Qualida is from the QA family. She was stuck in a mud whole. She was 43(I think) at the time. When she got freed, her teats started squirting. That indicates she must have had a newborn calf at the time.

Donna

Tue, 2010-04-13 21:36 by Donna

Hi Velvet,

Since your questions about Donna are now on the next page, I thought I would answer here. Donna is the daughter of Dorcas. She was born in Sept 2003. She is in the DB family. Dorcas's mother is Dis, who is the daughter of Deborah. Donna was a very beautiful calf, but I have not seen a picture of her in many years. I'm hoping she and all her family made it through the drought.

vronsky and gomer

Mon, 2010-04-12 21:30 by nicola

what family is vronsky born in?
when was vronsky born in?
who is vronsky mother?
when was gomer born?
who is gomer mother?

what family is vronsky born

Wed, 2010-04-14 12:17 by velvet

Vronsky was born in the VA family
Gomer was born to Gloria of the GB family. Before grace became matriarch, tuskless female Gloria was matriarch. Gomer went independent at the age of nine, though that was still the time Gloria was alive and kicking and matriarch..
I think Vronsky was born to Virginia(not quite sure)

OA family

Sun, 2010-04-11 23:02 by nicola

when was orlanda born?
what are the names of orlandas calfs?
when was olwen born?
what are the names of olwens calfs?
when was odette born?
what are the names of odettes calfs?
when was ombella born?
what the names of ombellas calfs?

OA family

Mon, 2010-04-12 00:46 by velvet

Ombella's calves: OmoR, Orabel, Ombella gave birth to a calf in 2000.
Orlanda gave birth to Olwen. Olwen has given birth to four calves, including Obama, born November 4, 08.

msowers's picture

Orabel

Mon, 2010-04-12 01:01 by msowers

Sorry to contradict you, Velvet, but according to some of my notes and an old field report from Cynthia, Orabel is the mother of both Ombella and Omo R. Orabel is the matriarch of the OA2 family.

OOPs

Mon, 2010-04-12 12:10 by velvet

Sorry mixed them up :D

va family and others

Sun, 2010-04-11 22:09 by nicola

did velvet have any more offspring appart from vinex?
when was vinex born?
when was velvet born?
whats the name of enids 2005 calf?
whats the name of edwinas 2004 calf?
what the name of emma 2003 calf?
what the name of ella 2003 calf?
what the name of elspeth 2000 calf?

msowers's picture

EB calf names

Sun, 2010-04-11 22:27 by msowers

Hi Nicola,

I can help out with the names of the calves in the EB family you asked about.

Enid's 2005 calf, the good friend of Echo's last calf Esprit, is named Elise.

Edwina's calf born New Year's Day 2004 is named Elana. She can be recognized by a large triangular tear with a flap hanging from it in the top of her right ear.

Emma's 2003 calf is named Evita, while her mother Ella's 2003 son is named Edward Norton (after the famous actor [who does charity work with the Maasai in the Chyulu Hills near Amboseli], I assume).

Elspeth's son born in 2000 was named Explorer as part of the computer related theme at the turn of the millenium, as in Internet Explorer.

Sorry I can't answer the questions about the VAs, but hope this has helped!

Mark

emma and elspeth

Sun, 2010-04-11 22:38 by nicola

does emma and elspeth have any more calfs?

msowers's picture

Emma and Elspeth calves

Sun, 2010-04-11 22:43 by msowers

Emma had a calf last year who, because of its young age, has not been named yet.

Elspeth had a female calf in late 2005 who is known as Eugenie.

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