This was my morning view for 7 whole months bottle feeding baby Bona. Most mornings she would knock on my cabin door at 5am trying to wake me up so she could get her morning milk. This particular morning she never came knocking but I found her in front of my cabin munching on the grass in the field. I think this was the signal of change for her feeding habits.
Hairy Legs
Too cute! Bona munches on a selection of fruit. Take a look at those hairy legs. Took this photo before Bona could learn to kick out with her hind legs.
Window of the Soul
The eyes can convey a million expressions. I have my own feelings about what the eye is telling me here. I want to know what you are seeing. What is the elephant feeling?
Camera Traps and Surveys
Bang Distnan putting the final touches on a camera trap deep in the jungles of Sumatra. Documenting these amazing elephants across Sumatra means spending up to 10 days at a time hiking the jungles of Sumatra in search of locations to capture the elephants in the wild with camera traps. I have a camera trap program running across the Way Kambas National Park as well as the TWA Seblat Conservation area in Bengkulu. We spend days tracking and looking for the right locations and place camera traps. The issues we often face are poachers and illegal loggers who happen to stumble across the camera traps and steal them from fear of being caught so we take every precaution to secure the camera traps and camouflage them with paint as best we can. So far we have mixed results from the camera trap work, but the rewards of finding and documenting the critically endangered Sumatran elephant in the wild is especially nice. Link in the description…
New Elephant Prints and More to Come
Some new elephant prints are online. New size too of 85cm x 55cm looks pretty good in the home or office. All sales for the prints go directly towards the projects we either work on or support. So any support is truly appreciated. You can the new selections of canvas prints on my online shop (http://elephantsofsumatra.com/product-category/canvas-prints/).
My Favourite Snack
When not receiving his milk supplement Agam’s favourite was a piece of corn to try to rip apart and eat. All part of the learning curve to being a baby elephant.
Check Up!
Every so often the elephants of all the camps throughout Sumatra get their health checks done. Time to check for any signs of problems and the elephants are well trained to follow the commands of their handlers so they can carry out any checks from teeth through to ultrasound scans. The population is decreasing so to prevent any outbreaks of disease that could further threaten the species it is important to do this regularly.
Radio Collar Efforts
A lot of effort is being undertaken by many NGO’s from around the world to help out on the ground. This particular project comes from the Frankfurt Zoological Society in the Bukit Tigah Puluh area where they are running a radio collar program to help monitor elephant herd locations and help prevent human/elephant conflict when elephants come close to a village the program will help prevent the elephants from entering the villages.
Sadat
- Name: Sadat
- Born: 1964
- Gender: Male
- Location: The Elphant Conservation Center, Saree, Aceh Sumatra.
Sadat lives in the Elephant Conservation Center in Saree, Aceh, Sumatra. He came to the centre in 1989. He is now 50 years old and remains in the captive elephant program in the conservation centre.
Meet the Babies
Documenting the final stand for the elephants of Sumatra
It’s bitter sweet to meet all the gorgeous babies of Sumatra. The bitter part being that most of them are orphans as a result of our exuberant ways leading to habitat loss. This then leads directly to the death of adult elephants by locals trying to make a living based on demand for products we so desire but mostly don’t need. This is all part of my documentation work capturing the remaining elephants of Sumatra through photos and videos and raising awareness for their needs and also working on projects directly here in Sumatra with local government agencies.
———— HOW TO SUPPORT ME —————
If you want to support my documentation work and some of my projects directly related to the conservation of this amazing species you can head to some of the links below.
DONATE VIA PAYPAL > http://elephantsofsumatra.com/projects/
BUY CANVAS PRINTS > http://elephantsofsumatra.com/shop/
THE BOOK > http://elephantsofsumatra.com/the-book/
MY LATEST PROJECTS > http://elephantsofsumatra.com/campaigns/help-the-elephants/
Shop for Eles
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Elephant Montage
$29.00
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Elephant Patrol
$29.00
