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The most southerly elephant in Africa may also be its loneliest, according to conservationists monitoring the Knysna Forest in South Africa’s Western Cape. After a decade of no sightings, remote cameras placed in the 570km2 Knysna Forest recorded the presence of a female elephant known as ‘The Matriarch’ last year, but no other individuals have been confirmed since then.
Nandi Mgwadlamba of South Africa’s national parks body SANParks told BBC Wildlife: “We need to conclude our work before we can say how many elephants remain in the forest.” Pam Booth of Eden to Addo, a project aiming to link three large reserves in the Eastern and Western Capes, added: “The Knysna Forest is vast, and elephants can be secretive, and I believe it’s likely that more than one animal remains.” There is no doubt, however, that there are nothing like the 400–500 elephants known to have inhabited the forest in 1876, a population that was steadily reduced over the next few decades until – by 1920 – only 12 were believed to be left.
In the 1990s, the authorities tried to boost numbers by moving three young females from Kruger National Park into the forest, but one later died and the other two were eventually taken out again. In May an elephant believed to be The Matriarch overturned a piece of forestry equipment. Experts suggest this could be aresponse to her solitude, since elephants are social animals. It seems probable that she is one of the last, or the very last, of her kind to inhabit Knysna Forest.
by Richard Peirce