wildlife

The wild bull elephant that visits the STE research camp

We had a rather awe-inspiring visitor yesterday … an enormous 17-year-old bull elephant called Malaso who for some unknown reason, took exception to the special collar testing units that we’d set up in the morning on a patch of land at the entrance to the Save The Elephants camp. He strode into the camp, sniffed the heavy collars and their wooden stands which we’d positioned as part of an alert testing, and then promptly lifted them into the air and threw them to the ground as though they were mere twigs. He then happily munched on salt bushes while we[…]

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In celebration of elephants

I recent visited the amazing Howlett’s Wild Animal Park in Kent run by the Aspinal Foundation. I was there for six hours practicing my photography skills ahead of my trip to Africa next month to Samburu where I’ll be doing a photographic internship with Save The Elephants. While Howletts isn’t exactly the plains of Africa, it still gave me great insight into how elephants move and interact with each other especially the comical youngsters who rushed around with ears flapping and trunks flailing as only baby elephants do. I especially enjoyed watching some of the elephants stretching as far as they could until their legs were nearly folded[…]

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Louis the Tui: The tale of an infatuated noisy New Zealand bird

This is Louis the Tui. He followed me all over my parents’ property in rural Taranaki (Naki), New Zealand last Xmas, singing, grunting, wheezing, coughing and popping like a mechanical toy (Tui’s have a very active and noisy vocal range!). At one stage he even landed on the grass near to where I was sitting which is the first time I’ve ever seen a Tui on the ground. My parents were convinced that Louis was threatened by my Nikon camera and large zoom lens possibly thinking it was another Tui invading his space. I like to think he was in love with me and[…]

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