A clever way to donate……
Category: Uncategorized | Date: Feb 21 2009 | By: elephantsofbotswana
One mans rubbish is another’s treasure, this is certainly the case for elephants. By recycling your used printer cartridges and old mobile phones, it helps us to raise money for the elephants. It is simple and easy to do:
All you have to do is collect these items and post them.
Cartridges can be sent to:
Cash For Cartridges
Freepost, RLZL-EUJG-ZYEL
13 Main Street
Keyworth
Nottingham
NG12 5AA, United Kingdom
They do not accept Epson Cartridges or toner cartridges. If you are a business or school and would like to run a campaign to recycle your cartridges for the research then please get in touch with Kate info@elephantresearch.co.uk
Mobile phones can be sent to:
Greener Solutions
FREEPOST
LON17592
Mitcham
DR4 3U, United Kingdom
Please mark clearly on the envelope ELEPHANTS FOR AFRICA, so they know who to attribute the funds to. If you rather, we can send you some of the official envelopes. Contact Kate on info@elephantresearch.co.uk
SOME FACTS
· 24.5 million new phones were purchased in the UK last year
· By 2009, around 1 billion handsets will be sold each year in the world
· There are 70 million Mobile Phone subscribers in the UK, which is replaced on average every 12 months
· An estimated 80 million Mobile Phones are kept in cupboards and drawers
· Less than 10 % of all unused Mobile Phones are recycled
· Mobile Phones contain substances like cadmium, arsenic and mercury that need to be disposed of in a safe and environmentally friendly manner
· More than 1.1 billion inkjet cartridges are used annually around the world - laid end to end this would be 129 times as long as the Great Wall of China
· Each discarded empty laser printer cartridge adds approximately three pounds of waste to our landfills
· The plastic used in a typical cartridge is made of engineering grade polymers and is expected to take up to 1000 years to decompose
· More than 30 million inkjet cartridges are dumped each year in the UK (1800 tonnes) - the same weight as 18 Blue Whales or 257 adult male elephants.
Tags: elephant, mobile phones, printer cartridge, recycle
Category: Botswana Elephants | Date: Feb 19 2009 | By: elephantsofbotswana
Our Research is centered on male elephants, but that does not mean we ignore the females, far from it and it is always a joy to spend time with the females and their young. We try and sex and identify all the elephants that we see - which is fairly challenging when you have 30 or more elephants splashing about in the mud, which is what we had yesterday. I always say that the most important piece of equipment for a field biologist is the binoculars and I still standby that. Digital cameras are a god send but the bino’s help you pick up the small details, such as holes and tears which the camera might miss and will enable you to tell elephant A from elephant B.
Once the elephants have moved on and you are left in their wake, your work is not done as you then have to get back to camp and sort out which photos are of which elephants and who those elephants are. We have over 600 elephants identified that utilise the study area and we are always adding to them, so it is all a time consumable but valuable task.
We are waiting for identification software to come on market to make our lives a little quicker!!!!
Bye for now
Kate
Tags: binoculars, camera, elephants, ID
Research Saves The Day……
Category: Botswana Elephants | Date: Feb 17 2009 | By: elephantsofbotswana
Well it might be an over statement on the title front, but we did manage to pull a ranger out of a ditch.
This morning we decided to head out West, which is an area we are unable to access during the flood and so we make the most of going out there whilst we can. On our way we tracked for the released elephants Pula and Nandipa, and caught up with them and Nandipa’s calf Ntongeni very close to camp. They were busy feeding in the terminalia and kept us on our toes as we tried to keep up. They are all looking very healthy, particularly Nandipa who is looking decidedly FAT. This is very unusual as she has also been a rather skinny elephant and so I am putting 2 and 2 together and getting 10 - but I am rather hoping that she is pregnant. Ntongeni is 2.5 years now and so she could well be about to have another one.
Whilst we were with them all we spotted two jackal running through the grass. Not so unusual you may be thinking, but on the contrary these are the 1st jackal I have ever seen in this area and I have often wondered why they are not found here. I have put it down to the low predator numbers, but maybe they had a population crash and are only just recovering - only time will tell.
After we got our focal data on Pula and Nandipa we headed out West and it was pretty empty. A ranger had spotted 4 cheetah there yesterday, a mother and her three cubs and so we were on the look out for them.
Whilst we were out there we had a call from Thapelo, a ranger, he had driven into a ditch and unable to get out. He was not far from our lock and so were with him soon, and he certainly was very stuck, his front end was very low, having been consumed by a well hidden hole. No problem we could easily pull him out. We drove over and hopped out to get the chain from behind the seat……. but it was not there. Someone had removed it as the spade so we could not even try to dig him out. I was not happy. I was annoyed at myself for not having checked but really annoyed at the person who borrowed the equipment and did not return it - the same for the chap who removed Thapelo’s stuff.
We collected some wood but the gradient of the hole was too much and so we only had one choice, I had to go back to camp and source some chain. This took a good 1.5 hours and then a minute to pull him out on my return.
In repayment, Thapelo tracked down two male cheetah’s on a male impala kill. A good way to end a rather long and hot day in the bush.
The lesson learnt is BE PREPARED and ALWAYS CHECK as someone may have borrowed your stuff!!!!!!
Monthly Road Survey
Category: Botswana Elephants | Date: Feb 16 2009 | By: elephantsofbotswana
Every month we do a mammal survey of the study area. It used to be just elephants, but we are hoping to look at the changes in mammal densities along side those of elephants to see if there are similarities.
This entails an early start - so as soon as the sun is up we are out in search of our furry friends. Today was a great elephant day and we spent a magical time with a herd by the water at the Bridge towards the end of the survey. The little ones were playing in the mud and having such fun.
Mpoeng and I struggled to count them all as they were all intertwined and grouped together.
Other mammals we saw on the trip was giraffe, kude, impala, baboons and a lone hippo walking. We kept seeing him in different places along the way. It was jolly hot by the time he made it to the Bridge and some water. I would love to know where he came from and how long he had been walking when we found it at 0700!
Now it is time to try and identify the elephants we have seen.
Cheers for now Kate
The green delta
Category: Uncategorized | Date: Feb 10 2009 | By: elephantsofbotswana
I flew back into camp on Sunday, my first trip back since leaving in November, and it is incredible how it has changed. We have had nearly 300mm of rain and so it is very green and lush. With all the rain about that has filled lots of watering holes the animals have dispersed and now utilising the vast mopane forests to the south of the research camp.
Today though, our luck was in as we saw two herds of elephants, a lone male in musth and a group of three young males; Robin Hood, Little Voice and one I did not recognise and have yet to ID. The male in musth was Shubert and he looked very uncomfortable, for the half hour we watched him to get our focal data he was standing there, then dusting, then rubbing his glands against a tree, and then his side against another, resting his trunk up the tree, he really did not know what to do with himself. I have not idea why he was not off chasing the ladies. I often see males in musth like this and really cannot fathom why it is.
Now I have to get on and download the photos and try and work out who that other male was and the herds we saw.
Frustratingly we were unable to track Pula and Nandipa, because our tracking equipment is on the blink. we knew whereabouts there were as we had their statellite downloads but the VHF tracking box is not working. It is 7 years old now so maybe it is just too old now. The research celebrated its 7th birthday at the beginning of the Febraury - so HAPPY BIRTHDAY to us.
Now I must dash as the mossies are biting so I am going to retreat to bed.
good night
Kate
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Hi, I am Kate Evans, or more commonly known as Elephant Kate. I am a zoologist whose great love is elephants. Since 2002 I have been living my dream by researching elephants in the Okavango Delta in Botswana. I decided I was going to be an elephant researcher when I was seven. I was living in Asia at the time and visited the elephant orphanage in Kandy, Sri Lanka. It was there that I made up my mind I was going to work for these majestic and intelligent animals. I made a promise to an elephant and we all know an elephant never forgets!!!! It took me 20 years to finally realise my dream and start my life as an elephant researcher. It was 20 years well spent and now I have to pinch myself most days to make sure it is true and I am living my dream.
I now head up a team who are researching the elephants and trying to work out the social and ecological needs of the largest remaining population of the African elephant. From time to time, other team members will add their thoughts and experiences. I love sharing my experiences - so I hope that this blog is a medium through which you will be able to join the elephants and I on our adventures in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. -
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