Its been a fascinating last few days of TV watching. India lost her T 20 match, Messi is in Kolkata and I have been watching BBC Entertainment, weekdays at 7pm.
And so I learnt that there were four Northern White Rhinos in a Czech zoo, which were successfully relocated back to Africa, by the same person who took them there in the first place! Well, almost. The zoo culture sucks in the 21st century, and I'm glad for these rhinos, which got sedated, shipped in crates and moved by cranes before arriving in Ol Pejeta conservancy in East Africa.
The footage of the BBC documentary with Stephen Fry was amazing and endearing. But also alarming and depressing.
An article in The Economist on Game Conservation in Africa puts it succinctly,
And then I learnt about one more large, magnificent creature also threatened by poachers also in Africa. The forest elephants of Dzanga Bai. So, these forest elephants found in the forests of the Central African Republic, are different from the regular African elephants, and not much is known about them, supposedly.
The BBC Entertainment episode on these elephants, centred around the amazing work being done by a woman called Andrea, who has been there some eighteen years, and now recognises the elephants one from the other, understands their different calls and has been a reason for the reduction of poaching. I was just enthralled to see the footage, the low rumbles of a mother elephant to her calf, the high-pitched "lost" call of an errant baby, the intertwining of trunks of family when they emerged out of the forest into the clearing of Dzanga bai. There are calls that the human ear cannot pick up, and a whole social life which is rather complex.
This was the evening of Ganesha chaturthi, and I was pensive at how little I know about these gentle giants, so provoked nowadays by pressures of space and development. I wonder, do the Indian elephants also have similar social structures and vocalisations?
And so I learnt that there were four Northern White Rhinos in a Czech zoo, which were successfully relocated back to Africa, by the same person who took them there in the first place! Well, almost. The zoo culture sucks in the 21st century, and I'm glad for these rhinos, which got sedated, shipped in crates and moved by cranes before arriving in Ol Pejeta conservancy in East Africa.
The footage of the BBC documentary with Stephen Fry was amazing and endearing. But also alarming and depressing.
An article in The Economist on Game Conservation in Africa puts it succinctly,
The problem is not that the rhinos are half-blind, lumbering, and often infertile—which they are. It is economic: the ornamental and medicinal value of rhino horn makes it hard for the rhino to pay its way alive.The fate of the northern white rhino then, rests with Fatu and Suni, two of the relocated rhinos and their desire to start a family. I wish them well.
And then I learnt about one more large, magnificent creature also threatened by poachers also in Africa. The forest elephants of Dzanga Bai. So, these forest elephants found in the forests of the Central African Republic, are different from the regular African elephants, and not much is known about them, supposedly.
The BBC Entertainment episode on these elephants, centred around the amazing work being done by a woman called Andrea, who has been there some eighteen years, and now recognises the elephants one from the other, understands their different calls and has been a reason for the reduction of poaching. I was just enthralled to see the footage, the low rumbles of a mother elephant to her calf, the high-pitched "lost" call of an errant baby, the intertwining of trunks of family when they emerged out of the forest into the clearing of Dzanga bai. There are calls that the human ear cannot pick up, and a whole social life which is rather complex.
This was the evening of Ganesha chaturthi, and I was pensive at how little I know about these gentle giants, so provoked nowadays by pressures of space and development. I wonder, do the Indian elephants also have similar social structures and vocalisations?
And when she does show up, they go through this elaborate courtship dance.
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