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
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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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