Kumu

Kumu. Collared 29 Jan 2001 in Goubounga Bai, Dzanga-Ndoki National Park, Central African Republic.

Kumu’s collaring was quite dramatic! After being darted she left the Goubounga Bai and moved off into deep forest. The pygmy tracking team were on her spoor quickly but the very heavy elephant activity in the forest meant that her footprints became mixed with many other sets of female elephant prints and the team lost her trail. After 45 minutes of increasing nerve-racking searching for her spoor, one of the team, a young hunter called Mammadou, found her prints veering off a large elephant trail. He quickly followed up and found her sleeping calmly with her youngster close by, as if standing guard. Mammadou called in the rest of the team, who speedily put on the collar, and collected samples of blood, dung, ticks, and hair for various parasitological and genetic studies, after which she was up and away. That evening as we sat around the camp fire searching for a name for her, we chose Kumu, after Mammadou’s new bride.

Kumu and her little son spent most of their time near Goubounga bai for several weeks after being collared. Then unlike any other of the collared elephants, and elephants in general, she left the national park and moved west toward the Sangha River, and the lush secondary vegetation associated with abandoned fields and past human settlements. Old agricultural sites provide rich feeding grounds, but usually elephants avoid them for fear of humans. Either the vegetation was so good she just couldn’t resist it, or Kumu knew that the area was safe. After this she returned to Goubounga Bai, and after a period where the collar failed to return signals, she moved east into Congo and settled at Mingingi Bai for several days. Home range 1060 sq. km.

To see where Kumu has travelled while she was collared follow this link and click on her name to see the map of her travels.  Kumu's map.