African Elephants in Tsavo National Park – Tsavo National Park is home to large herds of African elephants. Because of their high numbers, the park attracts many researchers and wildlife documenters.
There are about 30 elephant families in the park, and each family can have over 100 adult members. A family is usually led by an older female, called the matriarch.
Elephants often form clans made up of related families. They have a gestation period of about 640 days, and a newborn calf weighs around 120 kilograms at birth.
Baby elephants are about 80 centimeters tall when born and grow into very large adults.
Elephants use their trunks for picking up objects, bathing, drinking, and digging for water during droughts. They also make a trumpet sound to warn other elephants of danger.
Because of their size, adult elephants have few natural predators, although young calves can be vulnerable. An adult elephant can drink between 90 and 140 liters of water in a single day.
The Tsavo Conservation Area has the largest elephant population in Kenya, possibly even in Africa. Around 40 percent of Kenya’s elephants live here.
The area also has more than 18 percent of the country’s rare and endangered black rhinos, most of them in the Ngulia Rhino Sanctuary. Other rare animals in the region include the critically endangered hirola and the endangered Grevy’s zebra.
Despite the threat of poaching, the elephant population has been growing at about 4 to 5 percent per year. However, poaching and illegal wildlife trade have still occurred, with 2011 being one of the worst years in recent times. Strong conservation efforts continue to protect these animals.
Tsavo is one of Kenya’s most visited wildlife areas, attracting tourists to Tsavo East National Park, Tsavo West National Park, and nearby Amboseli National Park. Tsavo East and Tsavo West are separated by the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway, the Uganda Railway, and the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway.
Underground tunnels have been built to help wildlife move between the two parks, but the number of elephants crossing has declined.
There are concerns that the newly built Nairobi Expressway may further affect wildlife movement between the parks.
