An elephant family mainly consists of adult cows, who are either sisters or cousins, with their calves. These families may be as small as a mother with one or two dependent offspring or as large as 50. The size and cohesion of families varies depending upon a combination of factors, including the elephant species or sub-species, individual personalities, the formation and dissolution of individual social bonds, the strength of the matriarch’s leadership, historical events such as deaths of influential individuals, the type of habitat, the season and individual preferences.

For more than 38 years recording elephant sightings in the Amboseli population, we recently analyzed our census records and it proved what we already knew that some groups were splitting into sub-groups. Studies show that sometimes over the course of hours these groups may temporarily separate and reunite or they may mingle with other social groups to form temporarily larger social units. We therefore recorded separately small split family groups as a sub-group of the original family but only to those that appeared to have permanently separated for over a period of more than ten years and with no signs of ever coming back together.

A good example to prove this was clearly observed when Echo of the EB died at a time when Amboseli was experiencing a prolonged drought. Right before her death Ella with her sub-group disappeared either due to the reason that she sensed Echo was dying or she needed to venture outside the park searching for better grazing areas. Clearly Echo was indeed influential and a truly dependable matriarch to the EB’s.

Amazingly Elephant relationships within families may last a lifetime, which applies to both females and males. In 1997 two older cows from the ZB family split from the group and were never seen within the Amboseli eco-system for quite some time. Funny Tuskless—better known by the Amboseli Elephant Research field observers as Funny T—and Round Ears, by then 35 and 38 years old respectively, disappeared with their offspring for ten years. We were pretty sure they ventured deep into Tanzania and our hopes of seeing them again were minimal. In 2007 to everybody’s amazement the ZB’s were back again as a complete family with an addition of five more new calves but without Zelina, their matriarch. We strongly suspect Zelina died because her offspring were with the group. It is always a clear-cut case in such a situation, as calves would never abandon their mother if she is still alive.

You’ll probably wonder why we have two individuals from a family starting with letter “Z” given names like Funny Tuskless and Round Ears. Well, some of them boast features that make them stand out from the rest and it’s always best not to ignore these for identification purposes. Cynthia Moss humorously observed Funny T to have a somewhat funny face and the fact that she is tuskless, hence the name.

It was fantastic to see them back together again, though this reunion was short-lived, as Funny T and Round Ears disappeared again and back to where they came from. Individuals coming back together after such a long period of absence indicates how strong Elephant families and social bonds are.

Two years later in 2009 Round Ears with her offspring returned back to Amboseli, but this time without Funny T. We were not alarmed only concerned by the absence of Funny T., mainly because her calves did not show up with Round Ears as in the case with Zelina. Our suspicion proved right when in June of this year Funny T. came back to Amboseli. Since her recent return she has been sighted foraging on the western side of the park, which is their home range. Currently the family totals 30 strong members.

Amboseli National Park is a haven for these large and beautiful mammals. However far they venture and for however long, they always come back, even just to say hi.