Now living wild, though he continues to visit us regularly
Current age
20 years old
Gender
Male
Rescued date
16 November 2005
Rescue location
Tsavo Ecosystem, Tsavo West NP
Date of birth (estimate)
24 August 2004
Reason orphaned
Man-made cause for separation
Age at rescue
14 months old (approx)
Current location
Living Wild
The Anti-Poaching Team located the elephant at 11.00 am., still in amongst the herd of cattle, at a place called “Challa” (which means “Source of the Volcanic River”). At the request of the herdsmen who had reported his presence, the elephant orphan has been named “Challa”.
Daphne made cooked oatmeal balls laced with desiccated coconut for him, and these proved a huge hit. The new arrival couldn’t get enough of them, following his Keepers around, pleading for more. However, being a starvation case, it is necessary to proceed with caution in the beginning, and not ask too much of a digestive tract that has been deprived of essential nutrients for so long. As the established orphans all left him to go into the Park forest, as they do every day, little Challa cried, desperate to accompany the new elephant family he had just found. However we felt it was a bit too soon to risk letting him out The next day he joined the nursery orphans. Rapsu has not been terribly friendly to him, we think because he is holding a grudge about being displaced from his stockade by Challa, but a special friendship is already forming between Zurura and Challa – and they do come from the same area so could well know each other from their wild life.
The Anti-Poaching Team located the elephant at 11.00 am., still in amongst the herd of cattle, at a place called “Challa” (which means “Source of the Volcanic River”). At the request of the herdsmen who had reported his presence, the elephant orphan has been named “Challa”.
View diary updates from across all our orphan units as written by the Keepers
Another motherhood milestone for our extended elephant family! This time, it’s 15-year-old Makireti becoming a mum. As is tradition among many of our ex-orphans, she chose to come close to ‘home’ to give birth and then introduced us to her brand new baby.
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