18 Days old!

Bibi is 18 days old today. She develops every hour of every day, carving out her place in the KEP herd. Tosha has turned out to be a great mother; she is very protective of Bibi, yet very trusting - within hours of Bibi being born, Tosha allowed Charles into the pen to check that all was OK with baby and mom. Tracking Bibi’s development has been a special privelege. It is quite amazing to think that elephants live for as long as humans do, yet they stand within half an hour of being born, and are soon running around amongst the rest of the herd.
Bibi joined her extended family on the second day of her little life in this world. There was much greeting and fanfare when Tosha ventured out into the field with her - Tosha seemed very happy to share her baby with the herd, and they seemed equally excited to meet her. We watched all this with great interest, especially in light of recent discussions revolving around instinct and natural elephant behaviour. Elephants have the most amazing ability to adapt. Their intelligence contributes to their ability to problem solve and work things out. It is clear that Tosha is very relaxed and is not threatened in any way - she knows the routine of the Park and seems to understand that the daily management around her and Bibi is to her benefit as well as all the babies. In fact, Tosha is far more relaxed than when she was pregnant – it seems she is enjoying all the help from the other females who seem to take turns caring for Bibi. It is quite amazing how this new little addition has bonded the herd.

Manzovo Theatre Update

The Manzovo Theatre project is developing according to plan. The music is taking shape and has progressed from the rough notes produced in early June to a refined creation that will soon woo visitors.But there is an additional arrow to this Manzovo quiver. Once the music backtracks have been released, we will be sending out a brief to schools to create a Manzovo Drama of their own, which will lead up to World Environment Day. The whole idea is that learners nurture a conservation awareness throughout the year, instead of just for one day or week. Through the process of auditioning, practising and finally performing their play, this environmental consciousness will grow and develop. The plays will be judged by an external panel, with the leading plays being performed at the Manzovo Theatre on World Environment Day (June 2010).

History: A Great Hunter

In our previous newsletter we considered why there were no elephants in the Kruger National Park area of South Africa at the beginning of the 20th Century. We discovered that there were another set of priorities at play at this time and that the goal for many was to exploit the natural wealth of the African continent in order to make a quick profit, all the while thinking that this wealth was inexhaustible. This did not exclude elephants whose ivory is in huge demand to this day.When ivory hunters are mentioned a few names of men who between them killed over 1000 elephant come to mind: the likes of S.C. Barnard, also known as Bvekenya and P.J. Pretorius, one of the most notorious ivory hunters of the 19th century, as well as F.C. Selous. We will concern ourselves with P.J. Pretorius in this edition and in particular we will focus on a hunt that was only meant to claim the life of one elephant but ended up taking the lives of five in the Knysna Forest. Pretorius was a descendant of the Voortrekker leader, Andries Pretorius, after whom the capital of South Africa is named. He started out as a transport rider for the British South Africa Company and then went to work on the mines to make a bit of money. His career started in Zambia where he hunted elephant for their ivory and caught wild animals and supplied them to zoos. His travels took him as far up as Central Africa where it is said that he hunted with the pygmies, quite a risk since the tribesmen were very suspicious of white folk as the slave trade was still very much active at this point. He once escaped with his life after being falsely accused of murdering a chief – the real culprit was sentenced to be roasted alive. After a trip to Europe Pretorius returned to Tanganyika and tried to farm in the Rufiji Delta. During 1919, Pretorius’s intimate knowledge of the area proved very useful when he helped the Royal Navy to track down and destroy the Konigsberg, a German battle cruiser. On one fateful day a fleet of British warships anchored off the mouth of the Rufiji River and bombarded the well-camouflaged Konigsberg where it was hiding 17 miles upstream. After the British were done with it the 3400-ton cruiser was reduced to a tangled mass of warped steel and wreckage. The Konigsberg was to Germany in World War I what the Bismarck was in World War II. He was also one of General Smuts’s scouts during the East Africa Campaign and during this time was awarded the C.M.G. and D.S.O. In his later years Pretorius accepted an invitation by the Administrator of the Cape Province to exterminate a large number of elephants in the Addo bush, a job that had been declared impossible by people like the great hunter, F.C. Selous and naturalist, Harry Johnson. Pretorius was very successful – he managed to kill 120 elephants of the 131 roaming in the Addo area (on some days he was able to shoot as many as 5 elephants per day). The remaining 11 were given refuge in the Addo National Elephant Park, which was proclaimed in 1931. Thankfully this small elephant population has grown from the mere 11 that had survived to in excess of 450. After his career as an elephant exterminator Pretorius began hunting for the cameras making hunting films. One of these films was made in the Knysna Forest in 1920 where Pretorius had secured permission to shoot one elephant for scientific research and to then supply the stuffed carcass to the Cape Museum. He wanted to prove that the elephants roaming in the Knysna Forest were of the same species as those found elsewhere in Africa.There have always been elephants in the Knysna area but over the decades their plight has either been ignored or sidelined. In 1870 there were between 400 and 500 elephants in the forest but these numbers have dwindled, mostly due to hunting, to 5 (it was previously accepted that only one elephant had survived). Before Pretorius’s hunt there were 13 elephant in the forest but this number was reduced to only 7 after the event.On the day of the hunt elephant were spotted near the Millwood Forest Station and fierce trumpeting filled the air, soon followed by the barking and growling of dogs attacking a female elephant and her calf. The small herd retreated for cover quickly and silence reigned once again…Then the sound of gunfire rang out again and a majestic bull was brought down eight shots later – the wiry little man (Pretorius) jumped on the body and stood there victoriously while the grand bull lifted his head defiantly to look at his enemy and then rolled over on his side to die.Suddenly another bull appeared out of the gloaming and Pretorius felled him with only six shots this time.During Major Pretorius’ hunt a cow was also shot. Her calf had gotten into trouble down a steep kranz and Pretorius and one of the beaters involved in the hunt had tried to help. Suddenly the angry mother descended upon them and they opened fire and headed her off. She was found dead the following day, as were her calf and another elephant. A hunt that was only meant to claim the life of one elephant ended the lives of five (Pretorius found a dead calf at the beginning of his hunt. It had died of natural causes). The biggest elephant shot measured twelve feet six inches from the foot to the top of the shoulder. The length of the elephant, from the tip of his trunk to the end of his tail, was 22 feet and six inches. In elephant terms this was a big animal.Pretorius shot and killed 557 elephants in his lifetime and after just one six-month safari his stash of ivory was worth 3600 Pounds.Pretorius passed away in November 1945 but unsurprisingly his legacy has outlived him.

AcknowledgementsHaresnape, G. 1974. The Great Hunters. Purnell, Cape Town/New York.Pretorius, P.J. 2000. Jungle Man: The Autobiography of Major P.J. Pretorius, C.M.G, D.S.O. Alexander Books, U.S.A.Mackay, M. 1996. The Knysna Elephants and their Forest Home. Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa, Knysna Branch.

Find us on Facebook

Knysna Elephant Park has joined the Facebook community, where we keep Fans reguarly updated on any exciting events and happenings. So become a Fan and check out all the new photos and video clips, which include some fantastic footage of Bibi’s first few days. Simply click the Facebook link on our site, or search for Knysna Elephant Park on Facebook.

You'll also find clips on YouTube and additional updates on Twitter. So if you can only get to the Garden Route once a year, we'll make sure you don't miss out! We'll keep you up to date with all the fun and games here at the Park, and when you return, you will feel like you were here only yesterday. So until then...

Welcome to baby Bibi

The moment we have all been waiting for - Tosha finally gives birth!

For the last three months, all at Knysna Elephant Park have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Tosha's calf. It is natural for pregnant humans to be a few days or a few weeks overdue, and in elephant terms (where the pregnancy period is more than twice as long), it is quite natural to be a few months overdue (so the vets say). Logical as this may be, the KEP team still fretted, carefully monitoring and watching Tosha every day since her due date, with guides taking shifts in the elephant's sleeping quarters every night ...

At 9pm Saturday night the time eventually came. Austin was doing night duty when the elephants started trumpeting unusually. He immediately knew and frantically radioed the rest of the team. The labour did not last very long - minutes after Tosha dropped her plug (the equivalent of a human's water breaking), Bibi emerged and landed with a thud (luckily onto a soft bed of sawdust, as 2m is quite a way for a little newboard to fall!)

The team and fellow elephants watched anxiously as Tosha seemed a bit rough with this strange new arrival, but she soon settled and protectively coddled her little one. Bibi shakily got to her feet only to fall down seconds later. After numerous attempts she successfully mananged to walk a few metres, rather unsteadily, but nevertheless improving with every step.

The next challenge for Bibi was to get that mother's milk (first intake of colostrum) she so desparately craved! With trembling legs that didn't want to let her stand straight, it was a rather daunting task. Add to that the fact that baby elephant's are inevitably 2cm shorter than where mom's teat is, the task seemed almost impossible! Bibi did not give up though and her resilience eventually paid off - the KEP team heaved a huge sigh of relief as she successfully latched and drank.

Bibi means 'Little Lady' in Swahili. She stands 90cm tall and weighs a healthy 100kg.

Interesting observations and what next ....

• We saw Harry mating with Tosha. We noted this in her diary (every elephant has a diary in which we note any unusual, out of the ordinary or important information, every day).


• We diarized 16 weeks forward and watched to see if she came back in to oestrus.


• When she did not we assumed the pregnancy had taken and we noted 22 months from the date that Harry mated with Tosha.


• Bibi is slightly small for an infant elephant - the average weight of an infant is 110kg.


• The most critical part of a captive elephant birth is a) the mother not rejecting the birthb) the baby getting in the colostrum.- required from those first few sucks.


• The mother is rather rough with the baby at birth (for the first 5 to 10 minutes) But soon after that things quieten down and she gets used to this new little life.


• Tosha has allowed the handlers close to her to work with her.


• Tosha and Bibi are moved between stalls during the day to ensure that they are both always in a clean stall.


• From here we have to take baby steps with decisions being made day to day.


• We are ready to let her out into the maternity camp, but will only do so when the (predicted) cold weather passes.


• The moment we are happy the weather won't turn quickly, we will let them into the maternity camp.


• The moment the team has confidence that little Lady is strong enough to be with the other elephants, they can join the herd.


• This will be done systematically, to ensure both Tosha and the herd are relaxed.

Happy World Environment Day!

Yes, retailers exploit Valentine's Day, Father's Day, Mother's Day etc, but have you seen one reference to World Environment Day in a retail store?

World Environment Day seems to rise above that and delve deeper on a more meaningful level. Knysna Elephant Park (KEP) aims to add to this movement through Manzovo Theatre. The conclusion of the poem Manzovo challenges us as custodians of this ‘blue island’ to do something about its plight and care for it.

Mark Shuttleworth has made maths and science cool through his programme, it's 'Hip to be Square’, an incredible initiative and example of how we can strive to make it 'Cool to be Green’. Through Manzovo Theatre, youth all over South Africa will be celebrating our environment through song and dance. Our aim is to remain committed to the environment for 364 days a year and then celebrate the year's green achievements on World Environment Day.

Headaches and Heartaches, continued ...

“Mabitsi, Selati and Kiddibone are not problem elephants,” Lisette Withers confirms as we wait anxiously for the arrival of the vehicle carrying the three of them. “They are casualties of a system that uses a bullet as the solution.”

“Mabitsi was a break-out elephant - an elephant that breaks a fence and once having done so, is regarded as a threat and is usually dealt with by discharging a bullet between the eyes. Selati and Kiddibone were part of a management reduction programme at a private reserve and that meant that their choices were either the captive industry or a bullet,” Lisette explains using words that are simple and to the point.

Through the efforts of Lisette and Ian, KEP recently celebrated the release of these elephants into private game reserves, again highlighting the Park's efforts outside KEP boundaries.

Few people know that KEP enjoys the luxury of land that is not open to the public, but that serves elephants that prefer hands-off management; a facility that can be defined as a true rehabilitation centre. Whilst the NEMA act does not provide for a true elephant rehabilitation centre, the actions of KEP allow for the closest solution to the pitfalls of this act and the restrictions to a rehabilitation centre. The NEMA act requires that an animal, once rehabilitated, is returned to the wild. The only shortcoming of this act is that captive elephants can only really be returned to private game reserves.

The heartache to this dilemma is that the effort to regulate these few elephants is really not a priority to those tasked with the duty. Added to this heartache is the standpoint that many animal rightists have, i.e. that these animals should not be allowed to go into captive facilities at all and are better off dead.

Our challenge to all concerned is to see what we have achieved in the last two years. Four so called problem elephants now roam freely in private reserves; surely this is a small victory for conservation and for these elephants?

Description of photos, from top to bottom:

Bully the elephant is safely darted and the dart soon takes effect. Next is the anxious loading up so that he can be tranferred to his new home. Once he arrives, he is carefully off-loaded and administered a wake-up drug. The drug soon takes effect and Bully slowly gets onto his feet again. He meets his new friend Mabitsi and they are soon enjoying the new surroundings together.