As you know by now, female elephant
live in families headed by matriarchs. The other elephant in the herd are related
to her in some way -- daughters, sisters, cousins, etc. Sightings of lone bulls are an everyday
occurrence, but rarely is a female seen on her own for any length of time. If she is, it is usually the result of some tragedy.
Such a female wandered onto
Lewa in the spring of 2005. At first, I
thought I would find that she actually was a member of a Lewa family or, perhaps,
her family would soon appear. However, as
I observed her over time, it became clear that not only was she not a member of
a known family, she was completely on her own.
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| Celine is easily identifiable due to the large cut on her right ear |
As always, I took many
identification photos, just to be certain that she was not in the database. As I was downloading the pictures, Celine
Dion’s song “All By Myself” was playing in the background; so, when I realized
that this elephant was, indeed, all by herself, it seemed only fitting to call
her “Celine.”
On the rare occasion that a young
female is separated from her own family, she frequently will try to join
another. However, Celine did not seem to
have any desire to stay with one particular family. She appeared quite content to wander Lewa,
making friends here and there. She was,
and still is, frequently seen alone, but she also often spends time with the
Currency family and the Instrument family.
When disaster struck the Instruments (that’s another story), Celine and
Glockenspiel became fast friends but, after some time together, Celine always goes
her own way.
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| One-year-old Dion |
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| Dion today -- still with his mother |
In May of 2007, Celine was no
longer all by herself. She gave birth to
a little male calf who was, of course, named Dion. With little Dion by her side, Celine
travelled at will – sometimes leaving Lewa for weeks or months at a time. But, she always returned and was always alone,
but for Dion.
It is difficult to know why
Celine lost her family. Sadly, the first
thing that comes to mind is that the rest of the herd fell prey to poachers’
bullets. Or, perhaps, when the family
was fired upon, Celine ran in fear and then was unable to find the remaining
survivors. That will always remain a
mystery.
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| Nelson, the newest addition to Celine's "family" |
Despite all the difficulties
Celine must have encountered, she is a very calm and approachable
elephant. She remains quite content to
wander from family to family, and, in 2011, her own little family grew when she
gave birth to another little boy who was named Nelson.
Although Celine has chosen a
very atypical elephant lifestyle – it seems to work for her.
