BBC Wildlife - UK 2020-07)

July 2020 BBC Wildlife 95

I

t’samazinghowstealthy

anAfricanelephantcan

be,butoncetheymeld

intotheforest,theyare

efficientat ghosting.

Onelateafternoon,while

photographingwildlife

inSavuti,Botswana,I

accidentallywalkedright

intothederriereofa tusker.

Respondingtomyclumsiness,

theelephantdida sudden180,earsflared,

headtossing,trunkraisedlikea kingcobra.

Itsrighttuskwasbrokenalmosttothenub,

theleftonecompletelybroken.

I froze,thenranoutofthetreesandback

tothetentedcamp.Anothervisitorhappened

tofilmmysprinttosafety– untilthe

elephant,caughtupinthepursuit,knocked

hiscameracleanover.Soon,thetuskergave

upthechaseandwentbacktotheforest.

Thatnight,a fullmoonbrightenedthe

acaciaandsausagetrees.At4am,whenit

wasstilldark,I awoketowhatI thought

wasa torrentialdownpour.AsI cameto,I

realisedthatthemoonwasstillshining.So

where were the big drops, raining down onto

my tent, coming from?

I caught some subtle shifts in a silhouetted

mass outside. It was unmistakable – an

elephant, shaking the living daylights out of

a sausage tree, then using its trunk to sweep

thepodsfromtheroofof

mytenttotheground,from

whereit couldenjoythefeast.

I layinbed,theelephant’s

trunkwavinglikea magic

wandbesidemyhead– the

meshofthetentbetweenus.

That’swhenI noticedits

tusks,orlackof.Couldit

betheindividualfromthe

afternoonbefore?I managed

togeta closerlook– it wastheverysame.

Thelureofsausage-shapedfruitseemedto

beplayingonitsenormousappetite,andthe

elephantmovedtotheothersideofthetent

foranothershakeofthetree.

Bythistime,it was5.30amandit was

gettinglight.Thecommotionhadwoken

theentirecamp,whowereallhavinga

goodlaughfromtheirsurroundingtents.

Concernedthatthetuskermightsquash

myfragileabode,I madea moveforthe

exitwhiletheelephantdeliveredanother,

particularlyhard,shaketothetree.

Itsderrierelookedalltoofamiliar,andthis

time,whentheelephantwheeledaround,

it let out a trumpet. I guess no chase was

required, but it let me know it was there.

Fancy bumping into you

TA L ES F R O M T H E B US H

In Botswana, Chuck Graham had two closeencounterswith

the same elephant but didn’t exactly endearhimselftoit.

f achieved

cheaply, it

will be a game-

changer, allowing

reateraccess to

effectiveantibiotics by all

• includingthe developing
  world.Thepharmaceutical
  industrywillbeless reluctant
  toresearchanddiscover new
  antibiotics, encouraged by
  lower costs of bringing them
  to market. Huge investments
  currently yield little returns, as
  the advice is to use antibiotics
  sparingly to prevent resistance
  and preserve their future
  usefulness. Lower antibiotic
  research and development
  costs will conceivably attract
  pharmaceuticals back to the
  antibiotic market.
  Dr Manyando Milupi, Doncaster

How many?

In the April issue (Wild

month), Ben Hoare tells us

that up to 1,000 million willow

warblers head to Europe each

spring. This number astonished

me. A few pages later Mark

Carwardine warns us about

exaggerated wildlife statistics,

so I checked the BTO’s figure

for the British population,

which shows 2.3 million

territories in recent years – say

5 million individuals to keep it

simple. Are we really to believe

that up to 995 million willow

warblers are occupying the rest

of Europe each summer?

Gerry Cotter, Lancaster

Ben Hoare replies:

Fair point! The figure is quoted

in Tim Dee’s (excellent)

book Greenery, and is actually

a 1972 estimate by renowned

ornithologist Reg Moreau of the

post-breeding population of willow

warblers in Africa. Allowing for

death by various causes – and the

species’ decline since the 1970s

• the number heading north in
  spring is rather less.

OUR WILD WORLD

CHUCK GRAHAM is a writer and

photographer based in California.

chuckgrahamphoto.com

QUIZ ANSWERS (see p90)

1B, 2C, 3A, 4C, 5B, 6A

CORRECTION June 2020: Wildlife gardeners’
question time, p46: bird-protection law permits the
removal of unhatched eggs between 1 September and
31 January in England and Wales, and between 1 August
and 31 January in Scotland.

The elephant

did a 180,ears

ared, head

tossing, trunk

raised likea

king cobra.

S

Have a wild

tale to tell? Email a

brief synopsis to

sarah.mcpherson@

immediate.co.uk

Chuck Graham

T

You don’t want

to get on the

wrong side of an

African elephant.