Angola's Region of Land Mines not a Threat to Elephants

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Michael Chase, a biologist who has been studying elephants for a very long time now, did not notice this ability until he checked satellite-colar tracking images.

The elephants are returning to Angola, the country in which a great massacre of animals happened during the civil war. Apparently, Jonas Savimbi's UNITA movement sold ivory to pay for the weapons they were using.

Since the war ended in 2002, elephants have started to migrate back to Luiana Partial Reserve in Cuando Cubango province. At first, elephants were not aware of the mines and many had their trunks and legs blown off, condemning them to agonizing deaths. However, elephants that have been migrating since have learned to avoid those areas.

Chase points out that he is unsure on whether elephants have learned to avoid the mines. However, his observations so far have only pointed to that. He was closely following five of his elephants that have had satellite-collars and he noticed that they were indeed avoiding these areas.

This is also supported by his team's observations on the ground. Before, many elephants were killed off by these mines, but nowadays it does not happen as often as it used to.

Ian Whyte is a senior researcher at South Africa's flagship Kruger National Park. He has stated that elephants could very well develop an ability to avoid the mines but he is unsure on how they do it: whether it is something they have learned over the years or if they are able to somehow detect the mines while walking.

Whyte also states that maybe it is the smell of the mines that keeps these elephants away. Since their trunks basically sniff the ground, they might have learned to smell when a mine is close by.

However, since elephants are very intelligent animals and they tend to move in groups, learning from the mistakes of elephants that have been injured or have died, is another possibility.

The migration of elephants is welcomed with arms wide open since the populations in Zambia and Namibia are very small compared to those in Botswana.

Scientists are fighting to establish a National Park out of the Luiana Partial Reserve since only then all of the land mines are going to be cleared.

Since researchers are still not aware of the extent of the mine problem, mines are still going to inhabit the region which is now deemed uninhabitable.

Also, researchers do not know where the mines are and it would be really dangerous to remove them. The roads are not clear unless a car passes by and leaves tire tracks beforehand.

However, if they do decide to clear the mines, they will do it in strips and in certain regions which would allow the elephants to pass by freely without being scared of being blown off.