Research Summary
Tsavo East National Park and Tsavo West National Park, Kenya — The Tsavo ecosystem harbors Kenya's largest and most important single population of elephants, numbering 10,000. But not all of this ecosystem is protected, and fragmentation of the elephant's original range has resulted in the disruption of traditional routes. Human-elephant conflicts are occurring with increasing frequency. The Kenya Wildlife Service needs accurate information on the seasonal movements of elephants to provide safe access to their dispersal areas and protect local communities and their crops. You can help Drs Barbara McKnight and Samuel Kasiki continue a nearly 20-year study of seasonal elephant distribution, ranging patterns, resource use, and behavior. These data will help managers and landowners make wise decisions on wildlife corridors, fencing, and water development.
Meet the Scientists
Dr Barbara McKnight
IUCN Elephant Specialist Group
We would like to invite you to join us in this challenging Tsavo elephant research. You will meet elephants we have known for more than a decade. Each elephant has its own personality and physical characteristics that we use to identify it. We will be working in the vast and beautiful southern region of the Tsavo ecosystem, which is filled with extraordinary plants and wildlife. You will be spending many hours searching for elephants and the other wildlife in this habitat. Our goal, with your help, is to compile our data to help preserve and protect the Tsavo elephants.
Dr Barbara McKnight has been conducting field research on the Tsavo elephants for 20 years. Her research is based on more than 800 individually recognised elephants, many of whom she has studied for more than a decade. She lives and works full-time in Tsavo, monitoring these known individuals’ ranging patterns, reproduction and associations. She also monitors the elephant population’s group size, composition and location. Dr McKnight received her Ph.D. and M.Sc. degrees from the University of Oxford in the UK and her B.A. from the University of Northern Colorado in the US. She is currently a member of the IUCN Elephant Specialist Group. She will lead all Earthwatch teams.
Dr Samuel Kasiki
Kenya Wildlife Service
Dr Samuel Kasiki is Kenya Wildlife Service’s Deputy Director Biodiversity Research and Monitoring. He has substantial expertise in human-wildlife conflict involving both elephants and carnivores. He is responsible for channeling all of the results of the project’s work to the Kenya Wildlife Service, where it is used to make appropriate decisions on conservation and management of elephants and other wildlife in Tsavo. Dr Kasiki received his Ph.D. and M.Sc. degrees from the University of Kent in the UK, and his B.S. from the University of Nairobi in Kenya. Due to other commitments, Dr Kasiki will not be in the field with Earthwatch teams in 2010.