Big Tuskers Need Your Help
During my visit to Kruger National Park as a part of the Sierra Nevada College South Africa program trip I had the pleasure of visiting the Letaba Elephant Hall, where I had an amazing opportunity to learn more about elephant conservation within the park. In the exhibit they have a wonderful section about the tuskers, which are elephants with very large tusks. Tuskers hold a huge importance in elephant populations. To have strong, sustainable and adaptable populations the genes of tuskers need to be passed down to further generations. When they are in this stage of life of having huge tusks they are in their prime, so it’s important to take note of and protect these huge elephants with massive tusks. They are a rare find, it’s not common today to find a tusker elephant simply because they don’t make it to that stage of life…but large male tusker elephants are much more than just breeders. Old and experienced individuals are crucial to the social structure. By the time these animals reach this size they have accumulated social and ecological experience that the younger animals need to learn from. They have been a part of social networks for five to six decades, and social structures are extremely important for elephants.
The Kruger National Park Emerging Tuskers project is part of a research project to identify a new crop of elephants with large tusks. They encourage visitors to the park to take pictures and video footage of any elephant with large tusks so it can be used for research purposes. Animals are hard to spot, even something as big as a tusker elephant. So having those extra eyes around the park might be what researchers need to further our knowledge on how to properly conserve these animals and make sure their genes get passed on. So if you’re ever driving in Kruger and come across a massive elephant with huge tusks, document it and send it in! You might be helping with furthering research and conservation on those animals.
Beyond what I learned about tuskers I have a lot of admiration for the Letaba Elephant Hall because of their focus on education and the community. It has fun and games for kids and information for schools and educators. They gave us a very informational presentation where we got to ask questions and further our knowledge on elephant conservation. We also had the pleasure of volunteering our time to make crafts that were used for an event the next day where children from the surrounding communities came to learn about the parks animals. Not to mention it’s a super well done museum, with excellent visuals and a very friendly and knowledgeable staff. It’s truly a special place and I highly recommend checking it out when you’re in Kruger National Park.
The fact that Kruger National Park has places like this is absolutely wonderful. It’s a place where people from all over can come to learn about these beautiful giants. Parks need money for conservation and education efforts. Visitor fees simply don’t cover the cost of good conservation work. When money is donated it can be prioritized for things like the tuskers project. Please take a look at http://www.sanparks.org/fundraising and donate if you can. Education and conservation really do go hand in hand and I believe when you support places that are spreading the word you’re ultimately saving the animal.
