The Elephant Whisperers and Carbon Sequestration!
ELEPHANT! Today, it has been an extra celebration of them with the amazing win at the Oscars by the two Indian women filming their whispers with us, the humans.
Coincidentally, I found some extra research news to celebrate our elephants a little more!
Simple, complex, interconnecting, balanced systems— Years of intensive studies, yet to understand what and who they are really.
One elephant per square kilometer in a forest ecosystem can potentially help in absorbing 10 billion tons of carbon. Elephants fight climate change. How do they do it?
A curious observation. Elephants only feed on plants and trees with diameter less than 30 cm. WHY? Because these vegetation are generally in competition for water, light, and space with the trees that are rich in carbon and long living.
Simulating a forest model with elephants feeding such smaller trees (without ivory poachers!) revealed that there was a 7–14% increase in biomass; denser wood, rich in carbon.
Selective feeding — Balanced elimination — Mutual conservation
How cool!
They’re not the fighters of climate change, but a part of the normal, natural paradigm.
Image credits: arb.ca.gov
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