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Mac on the Move

Breaking news! We have been practically praying for this news and thankfully Michelle Henley contacted us to send word that Mac the African Elephant bull looks like he is entering "musth" the testosterone-fuelled frenzy that triggers his 200km migration to find a mate. This is just the news we have been waiting for because it means we will be able to follow Mac on his astonishing journey through southern Africa!

African Elephant from the Kruger National Park

Audio for Mac on the Move

Earlier this year, Steve Henley told us that there was a possiblity Mac might not come into "musth".

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You will see that we have attached some photos of Mac's most resent sighting. We went to visit him in Kruger last week to establish whether his body condition would be good enough to come into musth this year. We are exited to say that things are looking good and we hope that he will be coming into musth within the next month or so. We have also attached another picture of a big tusker that he was with. We suspect that it could be 'Mutlumuvi'. One of the up and coming big tuskers in Johan Marias most recent book 'Great Tuskers of Africa'. We will still verify this when comparing photos with Johan.

At the moment Mac is forming part of a study being conducted by Dr. Andre Ganswindt and Stefanie Muenscher where they look at the physiological and hormonal triggers of musth. Andre and Stefanie are checking up on the reproductive status of eight bulls (Mac included) that we collared on the border of Limpopo National Park in Mozambique. They collect dung samples for hormone analyses on a daily basis. The reason why we are telling you all this, is that they have kindly offered to let us know as soon as they spot any musth symptoms in Mac so that we can shoot up there to start the journey with him.

And then:

I have just received a call from Andre Ganswindt that Mac is already showing signs of musth. This means that we will need to act sooner rather then later. I think we need to be out there by next week keeping track of him......!

Further Reading:

Next report: Mac on the Move Day One
Save the Elephants

User comments

Steve Henley
Paul, Mac's non-musth range, the area in northern Kruger NP where he resides for most of the year, lies largely between the Shingwedzi and Letaba rivers. He keeps primarily to the eastern basalts at this time, which brings him close to the Mozambique border but as yet he hasn't crossed over the Lebombo mountains and we doubt that he will (of course having said that, watch him now move across just to show us how exceptional he is). When he comes into musth his journey southward takes him across both the Letaba and Olifants rivers to reach the private resves on the western border of Kruger. With the support of Kruger NP we have collared seven other bulls in the area of Mac's non-musth range and two of these have moved into the Limpopo NP in Mozambique. So there is some movement of elephants across the border now that the fence is down, however we expect this to be primarily the younger bulls, those that don't have a well established musth cycle and are more inclined to explore.The annual rainfall for the 2006-2007 season (July - June) did not deviate significantly from the long term average. We recorded 543 mm at our reserach station and the long-term mean is 507mm. There is however a south-north rainfall gradient in Kruger, it being wetter in the south and drier in the north, and within this rainfall is typically very patchy. So it is difficult to generalise, but if I had to I'd say the rainfall last season was average. LOCATION: -26.200001,28.083300 DATE: Thu, 17 Apr 2008 07:52:40 GMT

ESPE
LOCATION: , DATE: Tue, 3 Jun 2008 13:58:47 UTC

Paul Eversfield
From the Map location, he seems quite close to the Mozambique border? is he close to Olifants or Letaba?What were the rains like in 2007? LOCATION: 51.283298,-0.316700 DATE: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 18:31:38 UTC WOtM team: The Kruger National Park is in the east of South Africa, so yes pretty close to Mozambique. Not sure about the rains though my friend.

Brian Moore
So very informative, so very humbling. LOCATION: 52.6980,-2.2467 DATE: Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:45:09 GMT

angela roberts
Wonderful to hear Steve and Michelle this morning, and particularly good to hear that Mac is still going strong! Our son Paul was fortunate enough to work with Steve and Michelle in order to do his research for his BSc dissertation back in 2004. Mac was quite a celebrity even then!We're leaving for SA today to see more ellies! Looking forward to catching up when we get back. LOCATION: 51.450001,0.100000 DATE: Tue, 8 Apr 2008 14:25:34 UTC WOtM team: Wow, it seems Mac's precedes him! Hopefully Steve and Michelle will be sending us regular reports on his progress so stay close to the computer.

Matt Westcott
Great news, can't wait to follow his exploits. Have been looking for a site that plots migrations and now I may have found one at last. LOCATION: 54.5318,-1.1824 DATE: Fri, 4 Apr 2008 23:41:37 UTC

Daniel Jowett (10)
Are we going to be able to see moving images of Mac? LOCATION: 52.7063,-2.7493 DATE: Fri, 04 Apr 2008 18:38:50 GMT WOtM team: We really hope so!

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