| Cave elephant resurfaces with new survival tactics | | | | A poaching ban imposed in 1989 after the |
| The lure of salt draws a unique group of elephants | | | | Government set ablaze 12 tonnes of ivory saw the |
| deep into the belly of Mt Elgon National Park. | | | | elephant population ruse from 16,000 in 1989 to |
| For thousands of years the cave elephant has been | | | | 35,000 this year. |
| trekking to Kitum cave and smaller caverns at the | | | | The park senior warden Dickson Ritan largely |
| base of the mountain to mine salt. | | | | attributes the growth to anti-poaching measures. "We |
| One generation teaches the next the secrets of the | | | | lost only three elephants in the past eight years – |
| cave, despite the awful memory of poachers who | | | | two to poisoned arrows and one to poaching," Ritan |
| attacked their ancestors at the mouth of this | | | | says. |
| magnificent place and source of a vital nutrient in the | | | | He says the elephants were a target of poachers |
| 1980s and 1990s. The horrific attacks kept them | | | | from neighbouring Uganda. "The poachers would |
| away from the caves and saw their numbers decline | | | | follow them to the caves at night," Ritan says. He |
| from more than a 1,000 to just over 100. | | | | says containing the poachers succeeded because of |
| After concerted conservation efforts the situation | | | | co-operation with the Uganda government. "We |
| has taken turn for the better with the elephants | | | | increased patrols on our side and Uganda did the |
| having increased from 220 in 2002 to slightly over | | | | same from their end. This limited movements of the |
| 300 this year. | | | | attackers," Ritan says. |
| Under the cover of night, oblivious of a petition by | | | | The elephants were an easy target at the gigantic |
| Tanzania and Zambia for the lifting of the ivory trade | | | | caves at the foot of the mountain where they troop |
| ban that could threaten them once more, the | | | | after sunset to lick salt to replenish nutrients in their |
| elephants journey to the cave to cure their salt | | | | body. |
| cravings. | | | | The elephants move in a convoy penetrating the |
| As Kenya lobby's countries across the world to | | | | dark corridors that their ancestors used for |
| support an all-out ban on ivory trade to protect the | | | | generations to travel up to 160m deep into the main |
| animal, the good news from Mt Elgon should spur | | | | Kitum cave. |
| them on. | | | | Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) senior researchers |
| Critical moment | | | | Frederick Lala says elephants have an acute sense of |
| At this critical moment for their survival when the | | | | smell. They use their trunks to smell their way along |
| animal population is dwindling elsewhere, the rare, salt | | | | the subterranean route. |
| licking, cave elephant of Mt Elgon has stepped back | | | | Birth defects |
| from the brink of extinction to offer new hope. | | | | Lala and Research Scientist Israel Makau say the |
| Successful efforts to curb poaching and behaviour | | | | elephant, like other creatures in hot climates, need |
| change is behind the resurgence of the elephant. The | | | | salt in their diet to help them retain water. Makau |
| unique elephant has become more aggressive to fight | | | | says lack of salt causes birth defects, organ failure, |
| off poachers. Researchers say their new defence | | | | decay, diseases, premature aging and early deaths. |
| mechanisms scare would be poachers that once | | | | But the elephants do not get enough salt from their |
| threatened them to near extinction and make it | | | | diet making them mine from the walls of Kitum cave |
| harder for them to capture the animal. | | | | deep inside Mt Elgon. |
| The entrance of one of the caves at Mt Elgon | | | | Unlike their cousins living in the plains where |
| where elephants mine salt. Moving in herds the | | | | vegetation is rich in salt, the rainforest plants lack the |
| jumbos have returned to caves that they temporarily | | | | nutriet as it is washed away by frequent rain. |
| avoided at Mt Elgon National Park at the height of | | | | "The wet climate means plenty of food but constant |
| poaching in the mid 1980s — to lick salt. | | | | rain washes away salt from the surrounding |
| The transboundary African elephants (Loxodonta | | | | vegetation," Makau says. |
| africana) use their tusks to gouge walls of the | | | | Since their tongue is not long enough to lick the salt |
| caverns for sodium chloride unaware that the push | | | | from the cave walls, the elephants scrape it off with |
| by Tanzania and Zambia for a new trading window | | | | their tusks. |
| to sell their ivory stockpile, supposedly to raise funds | | | | "They pick up the rock and dirt with their trunks and |
| for conservation, could once again threaten their | | | | put it in their mouth before grind it down with their |
| survival. | | | | huge molars and swallowing," Makau says. |
| Tanzania wants to sell 89,848kg and Zambia | | | | Gouging of salts has left the elephants with shorter |
| 21,692kg and raw hides. | | | | tusks compared to others. Salts from rocks in the |
| The two countries recently petitioned the Convention | | | | caves not only benefit the jumbos as other animals |
| on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) | | | | including buffalos, bushbucks, rock hyrax, leopards, |
| to allow them to trade their tusk stockpiles. | | | | hyenas and primates rely on the leftovers on the |
| At Mt Elgon National Park poaching is on the decline | | | | floor. |
| even as the vice has spreads in other parts of the | | | | Lala says the geophagy — eating dirt— by the |
| country in the last three years. | | | | elephants may have formed the caves that are |
| Poached countrywide | | | | between 8000 to 12,000 years old. |
| For instance, 200 elephants were poached | | | | Researchers say that the move by Tanzania and |
| countrywide last year up from 145 in 2008 and 47 | | | | Zambia to allow trade on ivory could precipitate a |
| last year. | | | | flare up in poaching. |