Celine's Story

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. 

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.

One-year-old Dion

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.

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.