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Long-term monitoring of Rainbow Spirit

Written By: admin on December 15, 2010 No Comment

Feisty and determined Rainbow Spirit has continuously been a very special elephant to us. She surprised us with her historic trek, leading her herd from the lush habitat of the Okavango Delta to the once war-torn forests of southeast Angola. She has remained in the pristine forests of Luiana Partial Reserve for over 3 years. We were concerned that we would not be able to reach her to remove her satellite collar before the battery life in the unit failed. The battery life was already long overdue and we knew if she did not move into an area easily available to us, we may lose her forever. However, luckily, she surprised us again and moved south just across the border into Namibia and we were ready! A few years is but a snapshot in an elephant’s life and we felt because of the uniqueness of her story, we had much to learn from Rainbow Spirit. With the support of San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research, it was decided to redeploy a second satellite collar on her, enabling us to study her long-time movements. (Read about our partnership: http://www.elephantswithoutborders.org/partners.php)

The team moved quickly to change Rainbow Spirit's collar

When the time was appropriate we swiftly moved in, only able to reach her via helicopter. When we approached the VHF signal, she was difficult to find because there were no elephants in sight! We could not see any water sources either, which usually clues us towards where they might be waiting in the shade for the intense sun to pass. It was the hottest time of year and we knew elephants would not be making any easily seen trek during the heat of the day. Searching under the trees was difficult. Eventually, we spotted 2 large elephants hidden under the shade of a tree within a parallel sand ridge valley. Moving in slowly, we were delighted to see it was positively Rainbow Spirit! She was accompanied by a large bull and much to our surprise a young calf popped out from hiding behind her. Rainbow Spirit is a new mother! We were thrilled. However, we had to question: where was the rest of her herd? When we originally collared her, she was amongst a family of 19. We also noticed that one of her long, thin tusks had broken in half. And again, we pondered what stories she might be able to tell.

The calf stayed close to her mother's side

When we lowered the helicopter to land, the bull ran off but her calf was hiding at her side, sniffing at the dart. The calf remained only a few minutes, making the event slightly more stressful for the team, but eventually the young one joined the protection of the bull and we were able to quickly change Rainbow Spirit’s collar. It was quite emotional to watch this beautiful elephant stand up, donning her new necklace, and witness the calf faithfully join her side. As they wandered into the forest, I could feel the lump in my throat slowly melting away in relief and wonder. (Watch a video of collaring an elephant: http://www.elephantswithoutborders.org/videos.php)
It has been 3 months since the collar deployment. September and October were trying months, as elephants and wildlife waited for the rains to come. During that time, Rainbow Spirit’s movements revealed to us what she had been relying on through these tough times. We noticed her data locations for many days at a time were at an equal distance from one day to the next, many in a direct line. She was frequenting the hard clay valleys which are in the middle of the parallel sand ridges. The hard clay act as troughs for water that may slightly seep out from the depths of the sand ridges. Looking at a map of the area the ridges stand out in the terrain in almost perfect lines. Every day, Rainbow Spirit was between these lines! She must have been checking all of them. We could not find water looking from the air, but she knew where she could find the tiniest amounts. Towards the end of the month, she quickly trekked to the Kuando River, which told us the pools must’ve finally exhausted their resources.
The rains arrived and within the last few weeks, Rainbow Spirit left the river, headed northwest, following the rains and finally made a very quick, but steady trek to her favored area in the sand ridges. The forests are beautiful and lush without interference of people, as of yet. In these hectic times that elephants and wildlife face harrowing issues and have limited space and sufficient habitat, it is a relief to know that this elephant and her newborn calf have a place to prosper…. at least for the time being.

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