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| The female elephant sighted in previous years |
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| A different elephant sporting two healthy tusks |
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| Evidence of elephant interaction with trees! |
The Knysna Forest Elephants Debate ... continued ...
Gareth Patterson has recently had his say on the work he is doing on the elephants in the Knysna Forest, and the National Park scientists are having theirs as well. So let’s unpack the debate thus far ...
Gareth Patterson has collected dung samples from the forest and he has had these samples tested at a university in the United States. The testing process was a carried out by a DNA specialist at this university and the testing process confirmed the DNA fingerprint of five female elephants.
Until recently, there has only been one elephant witnessed and photographed in the forest. This elephant was identified as a female between the ages of 25 and 50 years old, so reports say.
Recently (in the last three weeks) KEP has had access to footage taken by another individual. At the same time as this footage being taken, a documentary was released on the elephants of the Knysna Forest. This documentary features Gareth Patterson doing his research as well as the SA National Parks wardens who track the elephants. There are some dramatic scenes of the scouts discovering that the film-maker’s camera traps were trashed, and right at the end of the documentary they feature a short clip of the elephant they had been tracking.
Having seen the documentary and then the footage taken by the other individual, it is interesting to compare this with archive material (written and photographic) and to study the claims that have been made about these elephants over the past few years. The recent documentary involving Patterson makes a claim that the lone elephant is a male. Yet archive material and previous comments from National Park staff clearly state that the lone animal witnessed is a female. They were previously convinced of their observations and were convincing in their claim that previous photographic evidence pointed to the elephant photographed being a female. So if both their claims are correct, is there more than one elephant in the forest?
4 Nights Accommodation at Elephant Hide Guest Lodge
