Almost twenty years ago, when I first started out at Mushara, I conducted most of my research in the bunker sixty feet away from the waterhole. Back then it was just me, my hammock, my tape recorder, microphone, and a small gas cooker to heat up tea and soup. As I listened to the bull elephants drinking, I would look out at the Southern Cross and wonder where my life might lead. Life has since become much more comfortable in the three-story tower where I now conduct my research, but sometimes I do miss the simplicity of those days, the meditative time, the elephants’ slow, contemplative breathing and their unhurried, ponderous drinking. It was not only a simpler time for me, but also for the elephants.
With the human population increasing in some areas around the park, interactions between elephants and people are on the rise, and with more interaction tends to come more conflict. In areas just north of the park boundary, there has been an increase in human habitation, and elephants that have traditionally left the park in the wet season are coming into conflict with humans. I’m hoping that our research into male elephant society will provide important information to conservationists who are called upon to anticipate problems and facilitate better outcomes for the elephants.
It is my hope that our research on male elephant bonds will serve as a reminder (only for those that might need one) that many old bulls are not just lone, wandering souls out there. They are part of a larger, complex social network in which there are youngsters that depend on their elders for guidance, protection, and companionship at different stages of their lives.
Meanwhile, the soap opera of the boys’ club will carry on whether or not I am there to witness its members in a rapidly changing landscape, to document the shifting of the social tide from year to year. I just hope that I’m able to be a part of it somehow, to continue my vigil for as long as I can find a way to support it and for as long as I’m welcome back.
Tyler came to visit me in the bunker at the end of the 2009 season. It was hard to believe it was him, seeing how much larger he appeared at this close proximity than he did from the tower and next to his older buddies, but sure enough, the small hole in the middle of his right ear gave him away. He was definitely coming into his own in the boys’ club, and I looked forward to watching him continue to grow and mature within his extended social network.