The Flowers are one of Lewa’s
most frequently encountered elephant families.
In addition to being “residents” who traverse Lewa on a regular basis,
the Flowers spend a great deal of time in the swamp, which lies in the heart of
the conservancy and is often visited by tourists.
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| Bougainvillea crawling under the wire |
The Flower family is very
large and often splits into two groups.
One faction is headed by Agapantha, with Daisy and Pansy always in tow. The
other is led by Tulip and Bougainvillea.
Bougainvillea is a very clever girl who has learned to get onto her
knees and climb under the electric wire designed to keep elephant out of
exclusion zones – areas in which elephant and giraffe are not permitted so that
trees can regenerate. To make matters
worse, now that she has mastered her technique, Bougainvillea is teaching other
members of the family how to break in for a late night snack.
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| Sweetpea shortly after his injury |
In the spring of 2003, Bougainvillea
gave birth to a male calf. He was an
adorable, playful little boy who quickly was dubbed Sweetpea. Not a very masculine name, but it seemed to fit
his personality. Late one afternoon in
June, I found Sweetpea with a terrible injury.
A large piece at the end of his trunk had been severed and left
dangling. The injury did not appear to
have been caused by a lion or hyena; it rather looked as though his trunk
probably had been bitten while drinking from the dam by the one and only
crocodile living on Lewa.
It was late afternoon when I
first saw the injured calf, so there was little anyone could do. Although it appeared as though the end of the
trunk would need to be amputated, it was too late to call in a vet from Nairobi.
So, I decided to check on him the
following morning. Believe it or not, despite
their size, elephant have an amazing ability to disappear. I searched and searched for hours, but Sweetpea
and his family seemed to have vanished.
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| Two years later, Sweetpea is doing fine! |
When I finally found him,
again, several days later, I was astonished.
Despite his injury, Sweetpea seemed to be getting along just fine! Clearly
he could eat and drink with his injured trunk, and he was young enough that
most of his nourishment still came from nursing. So, the decision was made to monitor his
progress rather than risk traumatizing both him and his mother with “field
surgery.”
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| Sweetpea playing with friends in 2011 |
I have observed Sweetpea over
the years, and, to my amazement, he has learned to use his trunk very effectively
despite the fact that the useless piece still dangles from the end. He is now nine years old and will soon be pushed out of the family and
forced to fend for himself. But, I have
watched Bougainvillea’s son grow into a strapping young bull, and I have no
doubt that he will do just fine.
