Loneliest elephant gets a crush on heavy machinery
Africa’s loneliest wild elephant has found refuge in the company of heavy machinery, video recorded in her remote forest range appears to show.
The cow, about 45 years old, can be seen pushing against a logging machine’s large tyre and settling down in the forest to sleep next to it.
The female, called Oupoot, Old Foot in Afrikaans, is the sole survivor of Africa’s southernmost elephant group, which retreated into the forest of Knysna, about 500km east of Cape Town.
The glimpse into Oupoot’s solitary routine emerged from thousands of images and videos during a 16-month infrared camera study by the South African National Parks (Sanparks) organisation, which runs the reserves.
The last survey, in 2003, found evidence of five elephants. Researchers noticed that the elephant ignored a tractor in favour of the logger, which has suffered a string of punctured tyres from her tusks.
‘‘We don’t know why she targeted the logging machine but wonder whether it is because it has a boom that resembles a trunk,’’ Lizette Moolman, the lead researcher for Sanparks, said.
She added that the contractors had been ‘‘very understanding’’ about the damage to their equipment, ‘‘which has really racked up’’. In other clips, the elephant is seen wrestling with a gate and some of the 72 cameras that monitor her. She is also seen consistently with secretions from the temporal glands behind her eyes, which
some researchers claim stress or excitement.
While male elephants in the wild often spend long periods alone, a female is always part of a large family group. The species is noted for its intelligence and social interaction. Herd members communicate by touching and entwining their trunks.
It is thought that Oupoot is the only wild African elephant to be living in forced isolation. After observing film of her, Joyce Poole, the cofounder and co-director of Elephant Voices, which works to spread knowledge of the creatures, said that Oupoot ‘‘was lonely and seeking some sort of companionship’’.
A survey is being held to settle on the best remedy for her. Possible interventions include moving a captive ‘‘tame’’ group, an orphaned calf or a wild herd from Addo Elephant National Park, almost 300km to the east in Eastern Cape province.
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