what did we do before the internet.........

everyday, i learn something new, just sitting at this monitor.

lolol

There is a prohibition on the trade in ivory between countries, but you may legally own ivory. You can walk into the shop at Skukuza in the KNP and buy a carved tusk - you just can't take it with you when you leave South Africa.

So whenever elephant are killed, hunted, culled or found dead, you may legally remove (harvest) the tusks.

I noticed that ivory can be legally "harvested". How is that done?

Someone needs to change that on Wikipedia!

Thanks for the info

ABSOLUTELY TOO MANY "1" 's

There ± 12,000 elephant in the Park which may or may not be 4,000 to 5,000 too many. It all depends on whether you feel an elephant has more right to exist than a nyala, bushbuck or baobab etc.

Here's an extract from the KNP's new proposed Policy on Elephant

We cannot manage the KNP solely for the benefit of elephant, but we do acknowledge that elephant are a significant component of the KNP system. We have to allow some form of population flux in the elephant population, because the effects of such fluctuations benefit the broader biodiversity of the Park. Some areas are opened up by high elephant numbers knocking down trees, thus promoting grassland and herds of zebra, wildebeest and others. Some other areas become woodland due to low elephant numbers and this benefits many species of birds, reptiles and a host of other groups. So we need a range of elephant impact, but have to dampen the extreme highs and lows which in our modern world work against many animal and plant populations.

- The full Policy can be access as part of the Free Elephent Component available from the WildifeCampus homepage.

Elephant numbers in the Kruger National Park since 1903

Year Number Nature of Count Source
1903 0 Estimate Stevenson-Hamilton 1903a, 1903b
1905 10 Estimate Stevenson-Hamilton 1905
1908 25 Estimate Stevenson-Hamilton 1909b
1925 100 Estimate Stevenson-Hamilton 1925
1931 135 Estimate c.f. Pienaar, van Wyk & Fairall 1966
1932 170 Estimate Stevenson-Hamilton 1932
1936 250 Estimate Stevenson-Hamilton 1936
1937 400 Estimate Stevenson-Hamilton 1937
1946 450 Estimate Sandenberg 1946
1947 560 Estimate c.f. Pienaar, van Wyk & Fairall 1966
1954 740 Estimate Steyn 1958
1957 1 000 Estimate Steyn 1958
1962 1 750 Fixed-wing survey Pienaar 1963
1964 2 374 Helicopter count Pienaar, van Wyk & Fairall 1966
1967 6 586 Helicopter count Pienaar 1967
1968 7 701 Helicopter count Pienaar 1968
1970 8 821 Helicopter count Pienaar & van Wyk 1970
1975 7408 Helicopter count Joubert & Pienaar 1975
1980 7 454 Helicopter count Joubert 1980
1985 6 887 Helicopter count Joubert 1985
1991 7 470 Helicopter count Whyte 1992
1992 7 632 Helicopter count Whyte & Wood 1993
1993 7 834 Helicopter count Whyte & Wood 1994a
1994 7 806 Helicopter count Whyte & Wood 1994b
1995 8 064 Helicopter count Whyte & Wood 1995
1996 8 320 Helicopter count Whyte & Wood 1996
2006 ± 12 000 Helicopter count KNP Scientific Services

All info derived from www.wildlifecampus.com

Sterre wrote:

I found this on Wikipedia and thought it was really interesting so I should post it

Quote:

* 111,670 Savannah Elephants

Hello Sterre,
I think there is a '1' too many on your list.

Well said, Landi!

Homo sapiens brings many things in nature out of balance because they fence animals in in too small areas.

Elephants are not the "pests", a creature called Homo sapiens is the pest.

They fenced the elephants in to restrict their movement and deny them access to their old migratory routes.
They built additional waterholes to supplement the water supply, which meant that the elephants and other animals did not have to walk so far to find water which helped their populations grow out of proportion when compared to the carrying capacity of the land.

Landi

hey thanks for that, really intersting stuff, never realised how well elephants were doing, so well they have to control them from becoming pests!