OConnell Caitlin - An elephants life: an intimate portrait from Africa

Dr. Caitlin OConnell is a faculty member in the Department of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine, and a world-renowned expert on elephants. She has dedicated the past twenty years of her research to understanding how elephants communicate and how their societies are constructed and maintained, resulting in numerous scientific publications. She is now applying what she has learned about vibrotactile sensitivity in elephants to helping people with hearing impairments.

She is the author of the internationally acclaimed science memoir The Elephants Secret Sense and has coauthored the childrens book The Elephant Scientist. Her essays have appeared in a number of popular magazines, including Smithsonian and Africa Geographic.

All of her books and essays feature her photography as well as that of her husband, Timothy Rodwell, MD, PhD, MPH, an assistant professor at the University of California, San Diego in the department of Medicine. Together they have developed a photo and video library of all aspects of elephant life over the twenty-year course of their research in Etosha National Park, Namibia. These photos have appeared in numerous national and international popular, wildlife, and science magazines, including National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, and Africa Geographic.

OConnell and Rodwell cofounded the nonprofit organization Utopia Scientific (www.utopiascientific.org), dedicated to research, conservation, and science education. They also founded and co-direct the production company Triple Helix Productions, which focuses on developing popular media products without sacrificing accurate scientific content. They have coauthored several screenplays and novels for young adults that incorporate basic science concepts. OConnell teaches Science Writing for Stanford University and the New York Times Knowledge Network.

Visit the author at www.caitlinoconnell.com.

MAX SALOMON

I always hate saying goodbye to Mushara, to Greg and his boys club, and to Big Momma and her family. Id like to thank them for sharing their home and their experience with us, and for their patience with our presence throughout the years.

Tim and I would like to thank the Namibian government for allowing us to conduct our research at Mushara waterhole for so many years. It has been a great privilege and we have many people to thank. We thank the folks at Etosha Ecological Institute, particularly Wilferd Versveld, Werner Kilian, and Johannes Kapner, for all of their help and support. Wed also like to thank Rehabeam Erckie and Immanuel Kapofi for all of their support from the Namutoni Ranger Station, and Windhoek staff, Malan and Pauline Lindeque and Ben Beital for their support of our research over the years, as well as Jo Tagg for his logistical support and enthusiasm.

We thank the core members of our research field team that worked with us during the time in which the majority of these photos were taken, particularly Colleen Kinzley, the general curator of the Oakland Zoo; all of the exceptional Stanford students that participated in and contributed to this research; and Stanford colleagues, Donna Bouley, Robert Sapolsky, Simon Klemperer, and Sunil Puria who contributed to this research.

Thanks also to Jason Wood, from the Department of Psychology at the University of Washington, who has been working with me on data analysis through the years, and Sam Wasser and his lab for the hormone analysis. A big thank-you to my agent, Ann Downer-Hazell, at Elefolio for helping me develop this book from conception to its final form. Also a big thank you to the folks at GPP, particularly Melissa Evarts, layout artist, and Greg Hyman, project editor, as well as my editor Holly Rubino who cared deeply about this project and who have all worked extremely hard to make this book as beautiful as it is. Thanks also to Utopia Scientific (www.utopiascientific.org) and our contributing volunteers that participated in this research, Stanford University faculty and VPUE student summer grants, and several small grants from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Geographic Society. Lastly, wed like to thank Paul Kennedy and Sue McConnell for their generous advice on photography under extremely challenging conditions.

Do you want to help make a difference for elephants? Depending on the field season, we often accept a few contributing volunteers as Utopia Scientific research assistants to help collect data for our ongoing elephant research. By lending your expertise (or even just your enthusiasm and an extra pair of eyes), your participation helps support the running of the project. If youd prefer the armchair approach to support, you can also sponsor a specific elephant or make a contribution to the Mushara Elephant Project. Please visit the website for Utopia Scientific (www.utopiascientific.org) and contact us if you are interested in participating in any of these programs.

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. Im 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 Im 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 Im welcome back.