Social support helps orphaned elephants 'cope' with grief

Photo taken by photographer, Jenner Parker

Do you go to your friends when facing grief? Well, elephants do too!

A recent research led by Jenna Parker, an ecologist from Colorado State University, analyses stress hormones in elephants that had lost their mother. The study shows that young, orphaned elephants seem to benefit, physically and measurably, from other young elephants’s support, according the paper Social support correlates with glucocorticoid concentrations in wild African elephant orphans.

It has been discovered that orphaned elephants with more similarly aged “friends” in their herd had lower stress hormone levels. This suggests that "social support" might reduce the stress caused by the loss of a mother in these intelligent and highly social animals.

"If you're out in the field, watching elephants, you can just tell that family life is everything," Parker told BBC News. "Calves are rarely more than maybe ten metres from their mother until they're about eight or nine years old.

"And if some of the elephants [in a group] go off, you'll hear them calling to one another. They want to know where each other are all the time."

The foundation of this study is sad and unfortunate. Between 2009 and 2013, there was a substantial increase in poaching for ivory in the two reserves in Kenya where this study took place. Many young elephants were left orphaned. One piece of research from the same group revealed that motherless calves generally faced more aggression from other elephants in their group.

To carry out measurements of the hormone levels of the elephants, Parker followed groups of African elephants over a period of more than a year. In fact, she revealed that she had to watch and wait for each individual she was studying to poop, to enable her to get a dung sample to analyse.

"You get to be around elephants all day, but you have to have your binoculars and really keep your eye on their back ends and their tails to make sure you got the right individual," she explained.

With this careful monitoring and dung-sampling, she and colleagues were able to study 25 orphaned African elephants, all of which had lost their mothers between one and 19 years earlier. They also studied 12 non-orphaned elephants of similar ages.

Parallels between humans and elephants

Some amazing parallels between humans and elephants are also highlighted in the study, in terms of certain physiological signs of stress.

Research, carried out more than a decade ago into AIDS-orphaned children in South Africa, revealed that it is less likely for orphaned children who had a strong level of social support from family and peers to develop post traumatic stress disorder, one symptom of which is abnormal stress hormone levels.

"And what we seem to find in elephants is that those with their family and social support maintain more normal [stress hormone] levels in the long term," explained Parker.

"I just think it's really cool that such a social animal has evolved so separately from humans, and that we still seem to converge on how important social ties are."

As avid conservationists here in The Elephant Foundation, we urge the public to think about this crucial social structure. This intricate elephant-to-elephant support system could help them to adapt to the myriad other threats they face. They too, deserve a life of love, safety, and joy.

Source:

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-62165978

https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-022-03574-8

Malaysia seizes an estimate of US$18 million pangolin scales and other wildlife skulls and bones , possibly destined for China

18 million USD worth of African elephant tusks, pangolin scales and other wildlife skulls and bones have been seized by Malaysian authorities at Port Klang - their biggest seizure to date.

The container of poached goods was discovered behind sawn timber following checks on a ship on July 10, the Royal Malaysian Customs Department has confirmed. Officials did not give further details and it was unclear if the container was meant to be shipped to other parts of Asia.

The size of the haul is unprecedented in Malaysian history. It included 6,000kg (13,227 pounds) of elephant tusks, 100kg (220 pounds) of pangolin scales, 25kg (55 pounds) of rhino horns and 300kg (661 pounds) of animal parts including bones and horns.

“This medley of threatened species in a single consignment is concerning,” Kanitha Krishnasamy, director for TRAFFIC Southeast Asia, said in a statement. “It certainly verifies the suspicion that criminals continue to use Malaysian ports to move contraband wildlife.”

It is important to understand that these illegal trades are still on-going because there is still a demand for these goods. Although trades in the world’s eight species of the pangolin is completely banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), it is still said to be the world’s most trafficked mammal. Their scales are often used in Traditional Chinese Medicines for their “otherworldly medical efficacy”. Yet, people are not aware that the nutritional value of pangolin scales is equivalent to that of human nails, which are also made of keratin. The demand for pangolin and products derived from them is purely cultural. The same goes with elephant tusks and rhino horns. People have assumed magical medical properties from these animal body parts that are essential to the animals’ survivals, and have exploited the wildlife for very little to none of pseudo efficacy. Is it really worth it to drive these species extinct for superstition?

We encourage our readers to consider the positive impact they could have on wildlife conservation by donating. Whether it is a small or big sum, you can help protect these critically endangered animals from being wiped out on this earth. You can help us preserve what our future generations deserve to see.

If you would like to contribute and do your part, donate here.

Source:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/7/19/malaysia-finds-contraband-wildlife-items-on-ship

Trophy Hunter, Riaan Naude, shot and killed in "execution style" in South Africa

Trophy Hunter killed in “execution style”

As per recent local news reports, an avid wildlife trophy hunter, Riann Naude, was found dead next to his vehicle in Limpopo, the northernmost province of South Africa.

Although the police stated that “the motive for the attack and the subsequent murder is unknown at this stage,” it is confirmed that 55-year-old hunter was shot and killed by two men who pulled up beside him when his car broke down, in what the publication referred to as an “execution- style murder.’

Naude was notorious in South Africa for his hunting activities. He founded and owned Pro Hunt Africa, a company that organises paid hunting expeditions. Naude routinely posted photos of himself and his hunted animals on social media. These pictures captured him smiling with dead elephants, giraffes, lions, and some other African animals. He also posted pictures of his clients posing with the animal bones they had caught and killed.

Even though he faced a lot of criticism, with animal lovers calling him “monstrous” and “unacceptable”, his work continued as it is legal in South Africa to hunt, even the much endangered species.

The Trophy Hunting Industry

In fact, 1.2 million animals have been killed by people in the name of trophy hunting. That breaks down to about 70,000 animals each year.

But what is trophy hunting and why do people trophy hunt? Well, trophy hunting is merely a wild game for human recreation. The trophy is the animal or part of the animal kept, and usually displayed, to represent the success of the hunt. It is a cold blooded act that destroys the precious wildlife and their ecosystems.

Generally, only parts of the animal are kept as a trophies, which are usually the head, skin, horns or antlers. The carcass itself is used for food, given to the local community, or just tossed away.

As of now, South Africa has the largest trophy hunting industry worldwide It is the second most popular source of American trophy imports. The industry is worth about US$341 million in the country. From 2014 to 2018, South Africa exported 1,337 African elephant trophies to the US, Russia, France, Spain etc. In the same period of time, an enormous number of 4176 lion trophies have been exported different countries as well.

Some Shocking Facts about the Industry

1. The most coveted animals to kill are the African Big Five: lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants and Cape buffalos. All of them are either already or nearly critically endangered.

2. Trophy hunters have killed over 78,000 mountain lions in the last two decades.

3. A 21-day lion hunt can cost anywhere from $52,500 to $70,000.

What can you do to help these animals from being poached or hunted?

You can help us by supporting our Rangers Insurance Programmes. For those who do not know rangers are the front-line protection for the African wildlife against poaching and trafficking. Their jobs are extremely dangerous and they face life-threatening encounters everyday while protecting the nature for us. There are currently 40,000 rangers, yet only 1,600 are insured.

Many forget that these rangers, though brave, are individuals with friends, families, and a community they belong to. Their death not only brings deep emotional distress, but also financial burdens to their families.

With your help, their families have something to fall back upon should something go wrong. If you are willing to contribute, please click here.

Alternatively, to support our foundation by helping us sustain our work, you can become a member of the Friends of The Elephant Foundation. This platform is crucial to the future of our foundation and is essential to the future of wildlife conservation. One can donate to us by a one-off donation or a monthly subscription. For more information, please click here.

Last but not least, we would like say that donors names will be mentioned in our newsletters in honour of their love for nature, their love for animals, and their philanthropic spirit.

Sources:

https://nypost.com/2022/07/04/riaan-naude-trophy-hunter-who-killed-lions-elephants-shot-dead/

https://www.hsi.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/HSI-Africa-Trophy-Hunting-Report-05-2021.pdf

https://greenstories.co.in/killing-animals-as-trophy-shocking-facts-about-trophy-hunting/

Half-a-century-old African Savanna Elephant, captured by photographer Clint Ralph

Photo by Clint Ralph

Half-a-century-old African Savanna Elephant that is protected by Maasai warriors is recently captured by professional photographer, Clint Ralph.

The enormous elephant goes by the name Craig. Born in 1972, Craig is a 50 years old African Savanna Elephant, also known as an African Bush Elephant. Savanna elephants can live up to 70 years old, longer than any mammal, except humans.

With tusks weighing more than 100lb each, he is one of the remaining 20 “super tuskers” alive today.

Photo by Clint Ralph

Clint captured these amazing shots of Craig when he saw the elephant roaming in his native Amboseli National Park, Kenya, accompanied by Maasai Warriors who kept close supervision on him to deter poachers from his tusks. Clint remarked that the Warriors “guard Craig from a distance 24 hours a day” to prevent him from being hunted.

In fact, Richard Turere, one of the Maasai Warriors, visited The Elephant Foundation in Hong Kong in 2019. He attended schools and gave talks on his life as a warrior, and shared what he does everyday to protect these endangered animals in the African Wilderness. To learn more, please click here.

Photo by Clint Ralph

Craig was photographed dusting himself off to cool down. Unlike birds or reptiles, elephants do not have feathers or scales acting as a barrier between its skin and the sun. Therefore as a sunscreen, they throw sand and mud onto their bodies to shield their skin from the sun.

Photo by Clint Ralph

Clint revealed that he specifically travelled to Kenya to photography Craig in his twilight years.

'My friends and I spent some time with him, watching his movements. At a point we figured his path out and positioned the vehicle some way in front of him, hoping he would walk past us. He did,’ said Clint.

“It was emotional to be so close to such a legend in our time. I feel very blessed and privileged to have met Craig and to spend such quality time with him.”

To protect beautiful creatures like Craig, you can become a member of the Friends of The Elephant Foundation, or to donate for the Ranger Insurance Program. Both of the programs mentioned help us protect elephants from being innocently killed for their tusks.

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any inquiries. We are happy to answer all your questions and curiosities. Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Source :https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10960301/Incredible-pictures-heavily-protected-50-year-old-elephant-giant-tusks-weighing-100lb.html