Do elephants use tools? Amboseli elephant cleaning his toenails with a piece of wood

Elephant cleaning toenails with a stick

January 2013. This video was taken in Amboseli National Park in Kenya. The elephants had been feeding in the marshes - you can see that the elephant is wet and in some of the distant shots has a waterline running along her body. When she got out, she noticed this stick and took some time using her foot and trunk to get it in exactly the correct position. Once she had, she anchored it with her full weight on her left foot and used its sharp end to clean between the toes and under the nails of her right foot. Whether she had mud or maybe a small stone wedged there from the bottom of the marsh it was impossible to see, but she certainly knew exactly what she was trying to do, and succeeded in doing it.

Elephants have been recorded using sticks before, to scratch themselves with or using foliage to swat insects. We've never seen one clean their toe nails before. If you have, let us know.

This video is courtesy of Real Africa, visit www.realafrica.co.uk

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/elephant-tools.html

Kenyan high court reinstates national park status to Amboseli

High court overturns President's order

Courtesy of BirdLife International

November 2010. The High Court of Kenya has reversed an order by President Mwai Kibaki to downgrade the Amboseli National Park to a game reserve. The High Court found the move to ‘de-gazette' Amboseli was illegal.

Serah Munguti, the Advocacy manager of Nature Kenya (BirdLife Partner), immediately welcomed the decision. "Nature Kenya firmly believes that the future of Kenya's wildlife lies with citizens and the local populations who share land with wildlife".

The downgrading of Amboseli was ordered by the President ahead of Kenya's first Constitutional Referendum in 2005, and was largely seen as an attempt to gain support from the Masai Community to support the new constitution.

Serah said the new High Court decision was a firm reminder that: "policies and leadership decisions likely to affect the integrity of ecosystems must be made in consultation with experts and not for political benefits."

Amboseli National Park
Amboseli National Park lies immediately north-west of Mount Kilimanjaro, which is actually just over the border in Tanzania. It has been identified as an Important Bird Area, and has a rich avian fauna with over 400 bird species recorded, including over 40 birds of prey including Vulnerable Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni which uses the site during its migration period.

Amboseli National Park is surrounded by six communally-owned group ranches that are wet-season dispersal areas for wildlife, and whose management has direct influence on the ecological stability of the park.

$3.3 million per year generated by Amboseli
Wildlife tourism is one of Kenya's main sources of foreign revenue, and Amboseli brings in about $3.3m a year from park fees and related tourist activities. This money helps administer Amboseli and other National Parks in Kenya.

"Local people must benefit not only from environmental services but also from concrete financial revenues derived from conservation", concluded Serah Munguti.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/amboseli-national-park.html