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Tusker
I can still vividly remember the morning I fell in love with elephants. The sun had just risen above the distant hills and as it lit up the valley floor below us we could see them, walking at a gentle, easy pace and heading straight for us. Remarkably I soon found out that they always walk at the speed of the slowest member, the first of many amazing things that sets them apart from almost all other animals. They kept coming, seemingly unconcerned by our tatty, old Land Rover. There was a gentle sway to their movement and the swish of the dry grass was clearly audible as they cut a path only meters from where we sat. A few glanced inquisitively in our direction, there were some soft, comforting rumbles of reassurance from the older members of the herd and near the rear a calf held its mother’s tail with its trunk as we would once have held our parent’s hand. I was truly smitten.
Despite spending fifteen years in Kenya and seeing some spectacular wildlife, that first visit to the world famous Masai Mara has always stayed with me. Until then I had no idea just how intelligent, indeed how human elephants are. In fact they have the largest brain of any land animal containing three times as many neurons as us. They have up to seventy different calls, and even their feet, which are surprisingly sensitive, are thought to be able to pick up seismic waves passed through the ground. In times of drought those vibrations are able to help them locate underground water and they dig wells which of course become a vital source of life to a host of animals other than themselves.
They show remarkable empathy for one another, often stroking a distressed member of the herd with their trunk. Although they don’t actually mourn their dead as we do, displays of grief are not uncommon. Sometimes they will stand next to the body of a deceased family member for hours, on occasions even trying to bury them. When occasionally years after a death they come upon the skeleton of an elephant they once knew, they will behave in the same way.
Elephants possess remarkable memories. The herds or smaller social groups are led by an older female who is known as the matriarch. She will possess a wealth of knowledge, all handed down to her through the generations; how to cope with the various seasons, how to navigate amazingly long trails and where to find the waterholes along the way. All this and so much more is stored away, crucial knowledge that is vital for their survival. Females will always stay with the same group, and having the longest gestation period of any animal, 22 months, might have up to twelve calves in a lifetime. They nurse their young for up to four years and like human mothers tend to be tactile and full of reassurance. I have even seen calves suck their trunks, just as babies suck their thumbs.
The males will leave once they reach adolescence when they are about fourteen years old. Many spend their lives alone but some will hitch up with other bulls. It is not unknown for younger males to chew branches and other food for older bulls whose teeth have worn out and then feed them, a good reminder to us of the debt we owe senior members of our own families. An elephant’s teeth develop from the back and push forward. As each set of molars wears down due to the endless grinding of often very tough vegetation, others take their place. This happens on six occasions in a single lifetime. Sadly after that, despite help they might receive, they are unable to eat enough to survive and slowly starve to death. Of course it was the evolutionary process that also transformed their incisors into tusks and tragically that is what puts them in such danger now.
In the early 1900s accurate estimates suggest there were 12 million African elephants. Half a century later that number had halved and in the Great Elephant Census of 2016, experts estimated that their population had dropped by over 110,000 in a decade, leaving less than 415,000 across the whole continent. Although many would have died of natural causes, huge numbers have simply been killed for their ivory.
In 1989 there was a trade ban on the sale of ivory by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species(CITES) but the publication of a report by Bristol University last year showed that the global price of ivory has increased tenfold since then. Of course higher market prices only encourage the poachers, nearly all of whom have links with organised crime or terrorist organisations.
Most ivory ends up in the Far East and although on the last day of 2017 China banned the ivory trade within the country, sadly this has had little impact. In most neighbouring countries it can still easily be found in certain shops and increased wealth in that part of the world only stokes demand.
Even in Africa itself this year, the Botswana government sold licenses to hunters to shoot 272 elephants at a cost of over £30,000 each. Conservationists have called the decision a global disaster and have told the country’s leaders that they risk hastening elephant extinction.
Elephants are not simply the iconic animal of Africa because of their size they are also crucial to the wider eco system. They have been planting trees for thousands of years through partially digested seeds in their rich dung. They keep spaces in forests open, allowing countless different plants to grow which other animal and insects rely on.
They are majestic, intelligent, caring creatures, a crucial part of the very fabric of the continent. If we fail to protect them now our children’s children will only be able to see them in a zoo!
These are just a few of the things that inspired me to write Tusker, a novel on elephant poaching in Kenya. Half of all the net profits due to me as the author will be used to help organisations committed to elephant conservation.
About the Author: Dougie Arnold worked as a teacher in Kenya in four different international prep schools, the last of which he set up from scratch. Half way through his career there, he took time out of education, gained his pilot’s licence and helped to run and market a game reserve on the edge of Rift Valley, an amazing experience that will always stay with him. On returning to the UK, he was the deputy head of a leading London prep school before taking early retirement to become a story teller. The influence of Africa is at the core of his work. An illustrated children’s book, Invisible Us, was published last September and received excellent five star reviews. Dougie lives with his family in South West London.
Tusker by Dougie Arnold (published by Clink Street Publishing 19th March 2020 RRP £9.99 paperback £4.00 ebook) is available to purchase from online retailers including Amazon and to order from all good bookstores.