Conservation in Action with On African Soil
 
On African Soil took part in another amazing event and worked side by side with a highly qualified management and conservation team who successfully fitted a satellite tracking collar on a female elephant. This operation contributes to a research project on elephant movements within the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area (GMTFCA).
 
Spotted  from the helicopter was a herd of 54 Elephants and the targeted female Elephant and her +/- 10year old calf as a result of skilful flying were separated from the rest of the herd.

Following an accurate shot from the owner of the reserve the dart started to take effect. As soon as she was safely down, the ground team got to work and were under constant supervision from a wildlife vet who also closely monitored her vitals. The collar was quickly and efficiently fitted and this entire process took only 20min. During that time data was collected such as body part measurements and tooth wear etc as well as blood samples in order to contribute to the research database.
 
In future articles this female will be known as Vhembe1 but Leila to all of us. She will contribute to the ongoing research focused on elephant movement in the Central Limpopo River Valley. In the future more elephants will be collared as the information collected is of utmost importance for the protection and survival of one of the last free roaming populations of these magnificent giants in Africa.
 
For more information and images as well as updates on Leila’s movements you can follow her on the On African Soil Facebook page.
 
You can find out more about On African Soil on their official website or visit their Facebook page!