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February 2004

Field Notes

by Doug Groves

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Friday, 20th February 2004

While walking with the elephants this mourning through dew damp grass and sand, I found a living treasure. I've seen these pretty little land snails several times before. I don't know what they are called nor do I have a key to their identification. Several people are coming out tomarrow who may have cameras with them so I'll try to capture the gay little mollusk on film. Then, perhaps, I can show the picture to someone who can identify it. Unfortunately I'm fairly ignorant when it comes to most invertebrates. Here in the Delta we have an abundant supply of rather plain looking freshwater snails and, as far as I know, only this one type of relatively rare land snail sporting a tightly spirallig olive colored shell decorated with festive burgundy stripes. E.O. Wilson relates a shocking story about land snails in his book " The Future of Life" :"In the early 1900s giant land snails from Africa(Achatina fulica)were introduced widely to serve as garden ornaments. The huge mollusks soon multiplied out of control, consuming native snails and attacking crops. In the 1950s an attempt was made to combat the Achatina by introducing the predatory rosy wolfsnail (Euglandina rosea), a native of the southeastern United States and tropical Latin America. The exercise was supposed to be a model case of biological control, in which a harmless species is introduced to whittle down a harmful one. Instead, it triggered an extintion avalanche. The rosy wolfsnails, soon to be dubbed "cannibal snails" in Hawaii, paid relatively little attention to the intended prey. Unexpectedly, they attacked and proceeded to eat their way through the native snails, which are much smaller and more vulnerable than the giant snails. To date they have extinguished more than half of the fifteen or so species of beautiful banded tree snails (Achatinella) native to Hawaii, and half of the closely related Hawaiian Partulina tree snails. They joined rats, shell collectors, and deforestation as prime agents in wiping out 50 to 75 percent of the 800 Hawaiian snail species living on the ground. They have also been complicit in the extinction of 24 of the 106 snail species endemic to the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius. On Moorea in French Polynesia, the rosy wolfsnails were the main cause of extinction of all seven free-living endemic Partulina snails, whose multicolored, acorn-sized shells were once used by the native people to string leis." I just thought that you might like to know.

Back on to elephants, Due to an irregularity on his cornea, Jabu's left eye periodically gives him discomfort. It has been tearing a lot lately so I have decided to medicate it with an antibiotic corticosteroid ointment, Neodexone. To get the ointment into his eye I have to stand on a big log and Jabu still has to lower his head. Holding his top eyelid up, I carefully squeeze the ointment onto his eyeball or nictitating membrane. Jabu cooperates eagerly with this proceedure 3 to 4 times per day, looking forward to treats, love and a normal feeling eye.

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Thursday, 19th February 2004

Last night we were generously bombarded by a terrific rain shower, so today's elephant foraging has been punctuated with plenty of mud wallowing. Leano, the herd and I wandered West hopeing to find marula fruit but they were not yet ripe. Jabu managed to reach a couple of marula branches anyway and he shared part of one with Thembi. Earlier this morning I was surprised to find a slimy opaque bead of urogenital-genital mucous clinging to the inside of Morula's back leg. Thembi typically produces quite a lot of mucous before ovulating but we don't normally see UG mucous from Morula. Later, after one of Morula's several Victoria Falls imitations, Jabu approached the urine puddle purposely, hovering his trunk tip over it. Then, dipping his dorsal finger-like projection into the urine, transporting it to the mouth and pausing while pressing his trunk tip to a special pair of small openings leading to the vomeronasal organ, Jabu exhibited a single perfect flehmen response. This is the male elephants unique way of detecting reproductive chemical signals and Jabu regularly tests Thembi's urine, but we rarely see Jabu showing that kind of interest in Morula.

While meandering East on the way back to camp, Thembi veered sharply away from us, her extended trunk leading her towards a termite mound. I followed her, expecting to find big Termitomyces mushrooms, a favorite food for both elephant and man. Thembi stopped before the mound with her trunk tip busy smell/touching a patch of disturbed grass, the site of a struggle, and exploring the skull of a recently killed buffalo. She seemed quite fascinated with the drama that had taken place there, then she suddenly turned to catch up with Jabu and Morula.

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Monday, 16th February, 2004

This morning was overcast and I decided to give Thembi a pedicure. She knew exactly what I had in mind when she saw the rasp and I asked her to back-up towards a leadwood log. Rather than resenting an interruption of her foraging, she was quite enthusiastic, appreciating the special attention. Before I could give her any instructions she had her right rear foot up on the log ready and willing. Normally, with the Trio's feet, we let nature do the work, growth and wear equalizing each other. Occasionally, however, the nails will overgrow a bit or just get too tatty, so with rasp and elbow grease I do my best to beautify them. Today it was the inside or medial nails of Thembi's rear feet that I attended to. She stood patiently like a pretty princes expecting to be fussed over.

We were blessed with a short rain shower in the afternoon and after collecting bags grass, cut by our crew of elephant keepers, I worked on improving the rain shelter for this weekends group of visiting school children.

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