The male elephants of the Makgadikgadi

Dear fellow elephant enthusiasts, 

At Elephants for Africa, we are incredibly grateful for the generosity of our donors, whose support makes our research possible. Your contributions are helping us uncover the hidden stories of the unique elephant populations in the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park and its surrounding areas in Botswana—a crucial hotspot for elephant activity with a predominantly male population that has remained largely understudied.

Since our founder began her PhD in 2007, we have been dedicated to understanding male elephant sociality. Our ongoing research sheds light on their movements, associations, and survival strategies, helping us make informed conservation decisions that benefit both elephants and the local communities.

To investigate elephant identification and social behaviour, our researchers employ photo-identification combined with the mark-recapture method, a widely used technique in ecological studies. This non-invasive approach allows us to track individual elephants over time, gaining valuable insights into their movement patterns and social associations. Each elephant is catalogued based on key characteristics such as sex, age, and unique physical features. Once an individual is recorded in our database, future sightings can be linked to past observations, enabling us to analyse site preference and social interactions over time.

Our research has revealed a striking finding: bull elephants spend on average, three times more time outside national parks and protected areas than within them, putting both the elephants and local communities at increased risk. Furthermore, while most bull elephants form short-term social bonds, some maintain long-term companions, highlighting the complexity of their social structures. This highlights the urgent need for conservation efforts to address the challenges of elephant movement beyond protected areas.

Understanding these movement patterns and social dynamics is critical for effective conservation and human-wildlife conflict mitigation. By studying how elephants navigate their environment and form relationships, we can better inform strategies to protect them while supporting the communities that share their landscapes.

Every research question investigated brings us one step closer to finding sustainable solutions to the challenges facing elephants and their ecosystems. None of this would be possible without your generosity. Your support empowers us to continue expanding our knowledge of the natural world and working towards a future where elephants and people can coexist.

From all of us at Elephants for Africa, thank you for believing in our mission and making a difference.