How Do We Know

The question I am asked most often is how do we recognize elephant, in other words, how can we tell who is who.  The answer is there is no easy answer -- it can be any number of things.

In some instances, elephant have a very distinctive overall look.  Anyone, for example, could

Rangoon's unique appearance makes
her very recognizable

recognize Rangoon with her huge cuts, gnarly ears and single tusk.  A more subtle example is Gabriella.  While the uninitiated would have difficulty recognizing her, she is what I think of as a very pretty elephant and one whose overall appearance is, for me, easily identifiable.

Gabriella -- a very pretty elephant

More often, elephant are identified by a combination of features – ears, tusks, veins and family units.  That being said, one must bear in mind that these features can change – sometimes in a very dramatic way.  For example, Heron was very easy to identify because of her unique tusk configuration, as well as a flap of skin hanging down on the bottom of her left ear.   About a year ago, however, she broke both of her tusks, drastically changing her overall appearance.  But, because of her flap, we are still able to quickly recognize her.

Heron's distinctive tusks

Heron's new look

Others changes can be quite tricky until you put the whole picture together.  When I first got to know Magellan, her overall appearance was rather unremarkable except for a small hole in her left ear. In addition, she was a well known member of the Explorer family.  That is how I knew her for many years.  Then, one day, I came across a female resting in the shade with members of the Explorer family.  I was surprised that I did not recognize this female, but she had a cut in her left ear; no one in that family had a similar cut.  So, I took photographs of both ears and went back to check the database. 

The hole in Magellan's ear ripped and
became a cut

A young Magellan had a hole
in her left ear

  What I found was that it was Magellan, but the hole had ripped and was now a small cut which remains to this day.  As is often the case, I was able to positively identify her based on the veins in her right ear.

Like all elephant, Magellan has a
unique vein pattern on each of her ears

Veins play a very significant part in elephant identification.  Tusks break and/or grow and ears can change with time.  But, no two elephant have the same vein pattern in their ears.  It is the equivalent of the human fingerprint.  In some instances, veins provide a very quick fix.  For example, Spinach’s right ear has a very distinctive vein in the lower right quadrant.

The very distinctive vein in Spinach's
right ear, along with her overall
appearance, make her very recognizable

  That vein, combined with her overall appearance, enables us to identify her even on the rare instances when she is not with her mother.  The same is true of Gabriel.  The vein on his right ear and the unusual configuration on his forehead

Gabriel's unique veins make him
easy to recognize, as well

ensure easy recognition.  Once he is mature and leaves the family, we will still be able to identify him with little trouble.  

Sometimes two elephant will look remarkably alike, and only careful attention to veins enables us to correctly identify the elephant in question.

Singapore

A quick example is the left ears on Havarti and Singapore where even the folds are very similar (admittedly, in this example, Singapore’s tusks are a bit bigger but that could be an age factor).   However, if you look at the veins in the upper half of Havarti’s ear, there are two clusters of veins:  the upper is a trident configuration; the lower cluster is a similar pattern

Havarti

with two large veins attached at the bottom.  This pattern is missing in Singapore’s ear, so they cannot be the same elephant.

When the vein pattern is unremarkable, the presence of a family gives us a good place to start with those we do not recognize.  We then have to begin the process of carefully scrutinizing vein patterns.  As simple as that sounds, this can be very tricky and lengthy process.

Hope this helps those of you who are wondering, “how do we know.”