I was enjoying this thread does no one want a debate about the number of penguins per sq km.

Having seen eles in the Mara, Botswana's Delta and Linyanyi regions, South Africa's Addo, Hluhluwe and Kruger amongst others, I have to say that whilst the Addo elephants often hang out in larger herds than some destinations, density overall in the park was not something that struck me at all.

Also worth mentioning, just for those who are interested, that Addo has a number of family lines of tuskless elephants.

I imagine that man's actions (hunting and poaching specifically for the big tuskers) has contributed to this - the eles that have been left alive to mate have been those with smaller and less attractive tusks. How sad that it is so rare now to see the truly big tuskers that were once quite common.

Huge herds of elephants covered the entire area until the 1800’s when they were deliberately hunted out with the result that in 1931 there were only 11 left.

I believe the 400 elephants are all descendants of those original 11.

15 elephants from Kruger have been translocated to a different section of the park, and will be allowed to mix at some point.

Highest density or not and regardless of whether you can see more elephants somewhere else, it has to be one of the most exciting and successful conservation programs.

To answer the discussion on elephant densities and whether Addo National Park has the highest, and additionaly should I be trying to reclaim my school fees. ( Does seem my long division is not so great)

Megan Bradfield has contacted the specialist for us.

The key is that while the extent of habitat available for elephants has extended quite rapidly (Kuzuko, Nyathi), relatively few elephants are present in these separate sections. This, along with the rapid expansion of other areas where elephant re-introductions have not yet occurred, does drop the overall elephant density/km squared for the park. However, in the light of this argument/debate, it must be pointed out that the Addo Main Camp or what was the traditional Addo park remains a separately fenced entity ecologically and from a tourist point of view. The core elephant populations in this area are certainly amongst the highest in the world. Over 360 elephants are present in an area of 12 000ha or 120km squared, which equates to 3 elephants per kilometer squared. This will drop once the additional 11 000 hectare Matyholweni area gets fenced in and hopefully also as soon as we can move more elephants to other portions of the reserve and to other reserves.

Cheers

Stephen

Dr Stephen Holness

Landscape Ecologist
Arid Ecosystems Research Unit
Scientific Services
South African National Parks