In 1979, there were estimated to be 1.3 million elephants in Africa; ten years later, there were only about 600,000. In Kenya alone, the elephant population plummeted from 130,000 in 1973 to less than 20,000 in 1989, a loss of 85%. The reason for this catastrophic decline: the ivory trade. Exploding human populations, rising consumption of natural resources and the expansion of human activities into previously remote areas all continue to threaten the future of the elephant. The elephant population in Amboseli National Park is one of the few that has been able to live a relatively undisturbed existence in natural conditions. This rare situation is primarily due to two factors – the support of the local Maasai people and the presence of researchers and tourists in the park.
Amboseli National Park covers 151 sq. miles in size at the core of an 3,100 sq. mile ecosystem and contains vital life-supporting swamps, which are fed by the Kilimanjaro mountain forest. This ecosystem supports an array of birds and mammals, and a population of about 1,500 African elephants. Located in Loitoktok District, Rift Valley Province of Kenya and spreads across the Kenya-Tanzania border where the landscape is a traditional system of nomadic pastoralism practiced by the Maasai people. Due to the Massai’s pastoral lifestyle the Amboseli remains largely unfenced and undeveloped, so that wildlife continues to move freely in response to rainfall and food availability.
The elephant population in Amboseli National Park has also survived largely due to The Amboseli Elephant Research Project, started by American scientist Cynthia Moss. In 1968, Cynthia Moss moved to Africa to study elephants in northern Tanzania with Iain Douglas-Hamilton. Four years later, teaming up with Harvey Croze, she found ideal conditions for studying elephants in Amboseli National Park. Four decades later, her work is the longest-running study of wild elephants ever undertaken, documenting the lives and deaths of almost 3,000 elephants. The Amboseli Elephant Research Project is now a hub for research collaboration and training. Since its inception in 1972, AERP has monitored the Amboseli elephants, identifying all the elephants in the population and collecting data on births, deaths and behavior. Today, as a result, AERP is the critical source of baseline data on elephants.
Ensuring the survival of the elephant in today’s Africa is an increasingly complex problem. The ivory trade – legal and illegal – and the tremendous increase in human population in Africa have taken a serious toll. In the absence of poaching and culling, the Amboseli elephant population has been increasing slowly since the late 1970s. Amboseli is, therefore, one of the few places in Africa where the elephant age structure has not been drastically skewed and the population spans the whole range from newborn calves to old matriarchs in their 60s and, even more unusual, many large adult bulls in their 40s and 50s. Realistic solutions to the problems facing Africa’s elephants can be developed only with the help of comprehensive long-term research studies.
Studies in Amboseli have provided unique and critical information on elephant birth rates, death rates, ranging patterns and nutritional needs, illuminated by analyses of their underlying determining factors. But the studies have also revealed much more: that elephants communicate at a very sophisticated level; that they celebrate birth, have lifelong friendships and appear to mourn the death of family members. Research has shown them to be highly intelligent with the ability to reason and problem solve and has provided a window onto their complex social structure.
These discoveries made in Amboseli have altered the way in which conservationists approach the management of elephant populations. What was once viewed as just a herd must now be respected as a family. What was once seen as ivory on the hoof must be recognized as a matriarch whose accumulated knowledge can keep her family alive in times of drought or famine. The magnificent bull with 100-pound tusks is a male in his reproductive prime who should be passing on his genes for health and longevity, not gracing the trophy room of a sport hunter.
LEGAL STATUS (ATE & AERP) ATE, the Amboseli Trust for Elephants, is a not-for-profit trust registered in Kenya and the USA (501c3). ATE’s operational focus is in Amboseli National Park and the surrounding ecosystem; its influence reaches out to elephant conservation, management and policy-setting worldwide. ATE has an administrative, fund-raising and advocacy office in the United States, a program management office in Nairobi, and a field research office and camp in Amboseli national park. The Nairobi office provides a base for administration, project support and field support. AERP, the Amboseli Elephant Research Project is the Trust’s research arm. Since 1972 AERP has studied the Amboseli elephants, making it today one of the longest studied populations of free living large mammals in the world. AECT, the African Elephant Conservation Trust, is an endowment fund established in the USA. The long-term objective of AECT is to initiate, support and ensure the continuation of key elephant research projects across the African continent modeled on the ATE philosophy and research methodology.
In time, income from the endowment can be used to fully fund the work of ATE and AERP and enable the field researchers focus their energies on their project and relieve them of the burden of continued fund raising. AERP’s unparalleled body of knowledge will thus be made available to those addressing issues such as land use, wildlife education, protected area management, and the consequences of human population expansion.
Why are elephants so important to the Amboseli ecosystem? Elephants are keystone species- Meaning that they play a pivotal role in structuring both plant and animal communities, contributing to biodiversity through seed dispersal and the creation of habitat mosaics. They move over long distances pruning as they go. Their lack of a specialized digestive system means that seeds haven an ideal environment for germination, making elephants perfect gardeners. Many important ecosystems would partly collapse if the elephants disappear.
In recognition of Amboseli’s special combination of ecology and culture,UNESCO and the Government of Kenya designated the Amboseli region a Man and the Biosphere reserve in 1991 to conserve its biodiversity, contribute to the development of the local human population and improve the local infrastructure in support of education and research. REGISTER info@elephanttrust.org
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