Seattle Maison

But that's only how long they can live if everything goes well for them. Like people, elephants die at all different ages, and most don't make it to the end of their species' maximum lifespan. In a recent study, researchers from the University of Guleph, in Ontario, Canada, examined records kept on hundreds of wild and captive African elephants that died between 1960 and 2005. They found that about one third of female African elephants in Kenya's Amboseli National Park lived past the age of 50, with a median age of 56 years for elephants that died of natural causes. The researchers added that, because people frequently kill elephants from the Amboseli population, the overall median lifespan for the park's female elephants, regardless of how they died was 36 years–20 years shorter than it would have been under completely natural (free from human interference) conditions. How long do the keepers stay at DSWT? Most keepers stay for up to 10 years raising the orphans. Are all keepers local? Yes. DSWT believes that by enabling local Kenyans the opportunity to play a part in the hand-raising of orphans it creates an affinity with the species. The keepers then share this conservation message with their families and communities further spreading this essential conversation. How big is the Tsavo Conservation Area? The Tsavo Conservation Area is over 24,710 square miles. This much space is quite adequate to provide a high quality of life for the elephant. In the wild, elephants range widely over a variety of different terrain types and typically travel long distances. African elephants are estimated to walk up to 50 miles per day if food is scarce. If food is plentiful elephants travel a few miles a day and mostly stay close to a water source. What are you doing to protect the elephants? Having already invested so much into their care and wellbeing throughout the reintegration process, and with the goal to see them enjoying life in the wild, keeping the ex-orphans safe remains very much a priority. For that reason, the DSWT operates nine Anti-Poaching Units working in conjunction with the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), of which eight are based within the Tsavo Conservation Area, as well as four DSWT/ KWS Mobile Veterinary Units. Together with a Aerial Surveillance Unit, consisting of two Supercubs, a Topcub, a Cessna 185 and a Hughes 500 helicopter, all of which cover thousands of miles on patrol every month. The ground and air teams are working around the clock to keep the ex-orphans, wild elephants and other wildlife safe.

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