Hi all, another definitely out of date post coming to you, but slightly less so than last time! Here is my story from the day I spent working with Elephants for Africa to help collar 3 large bulls, for their future research into male elephant behaviour. And wow what an experience it was! Honestly one of the most exciting days of my life, and I can't wait to see what the data show.
The previous day had, in contrast, been one of my most frustrating ever. Thanks to a very annoying twist of fate, there was one more person on our team than there were seats in the car, plane and helicopter, so completely fairly, it was the two research students rather than any staff members who had to take turns sitting out. My turn to join in was day 2, so I'd sat and watched the group chat messages flying back and forth all day as elephant after elephant was successfully collared, and I was stuck in camp unable to join in and starting to fear that they would manage to collar all 10 on the first day. Thank goodness they decided to stop at 7... What this meant however, was that everyone else had already experienced collaring and knew exactly what was going on, while I had only heard the stories and picked up some random snatches from the group chat. It wasn't until we set out that I would find out exactly the ride I was in for.
Being on the ground team -- i.e. in the car, as opposed to the plane or helicopter -- meant that we were entirely dependent on the elephant running in a favourable direction as to whether or not we would be able to get close enough to safely join the collaring. On the previous day, 5 of the 7 elephants ended up having to be collared by just the vet and the charity director, Dr Kate Evans, and for the first bull on day two we had a similar problem. He ran into the bushes far from the road and we couldn't get close. I was sat in the back of the car trying not to be too disappointed, and telling myself that we still had two chances left. That the next one would stay somewhere that we could reach... Well it certainly wasn't easy, and I've never had to cling on so much as we were bounced around hitting every bump far faster than I've ever driven in a National Park in order to get there in time, but we made it to both and it was definitely worth the bruises!
Helping with the collaring, seeing how we measure everything, and having the opportunity to really look at these beautiful animals up close was incredible. Feeling the pulse in the arteries of their ears while we poured water over them to keep them cool. Hearing them snore through a nose longer than I am tall, after I placed a small stick in the end of the trunk to keep his airway open. Being able to place a hand on a living breathing wild elephant and realise just how small and insignificant you are in comparison. A truly magical experience. There was also things I'd just never considered: how do you get a collar strap underneath an elephant's neck when the head is far heavier than any number of us stand a chance at lifting? And even when you do get through, it can't go fully underneath the elephant, but rather between the neck and ear or you'll end up strapping their ear to the side of their head - he's not going to be happy about that! Problems that thankfully I didn't have to solve, surrounded as I was by experts, who had done this many times before. The solution involves digging a tunnel underneath the elephant to push the ear down into, leaving a space large enough to push a wire through with the strap attached to the back of it. Can safely say that no one who cares about having nice nails should ever attempt to collar an elephant - digging by hand through hard packed soil isn't going to do a lot for them!
The only part of the whole experience that I would love to have changed would have been to be able to see through the brush to see them stand up again at the end, but it's not safe for us to be anywhere nearby when they wake up. However, even once the collaring was over, the whole experience wasn't. The next day we headed out with the telemetry to start looking for our big boys. On the first attempt we were able to get close enough to two of them to pick up the signal from their collars, but weren't able to actually see them. The next day however we found two of them, and it was so great to see them back to their normal daily lives, interacting with other males, and all the while providing valuable data that will help us to better understand the intricacies of their lives. Since then we've seen them a few times, and it's always a bit of a thrill to see them with their fancy new necklaces. I haven't got a photo of the ears of the two that I helped with, so I can't tell when I see them now in the park if it's either of them, or one of the other 8, but either way it's a buzz to see them, and a life experience I will never forget.
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