Children’s Book About Desert Elephants in Mali

The Tuareg Nomads of Mali have a saying: “We live with the elephants, and the elephants live with us.” The Dogon, Fulani, and Tuareg peoples share land with the last remaining herds of desert elephants.

WILD has worked to protect the unique “Desert Elephants of Mali” since 2002. We collaborated closely with author Helen Cowcher to present this lovely children’s book that conveys the essential message of the elephants, the people, and our work in Mali.

For hundreds of years, the elephants have followed a 300-mile circular path in Mali, West Africa, the longest migration route of any elephant in the world. Once a year, they must pass through the Elephants’ Doorway in the cliffs on their way to find water.

But what happens when that doorway is blocked? The local people are determined to continue their peaceful coexistence with the elephants, and they communicate with each other—over the radio and under the palaver tree—to solve these kinds of problems. Small changes can make a big difference!

Helen Cowcher shows that, when everyone works together, it’s possible to preserve the delicate balance of life in the desert and protect these magnificent desert elephants.

“Desert Elephants is a valuable and urgent book. It is a seminal contribution that will help save this unique elephant population”

Dr. Mike Chase, founder & director of Elephants Without Borders

Bumper Crop of Pelican Chicks on Gaillard Island, Alabama

As this year’s crop of baby pelicans hatch out on Gaillard Island in Mobile Bay, biologists in Alabama are breathing a sigh of relief. At the midpoint of the first nesting season since the BP oil spill, the manmade rookery is housing a bumper crop.  At 1,300 acres, this island is one of the largest pelican nesting areas on the upper Gulf Coast.

Baby Brown Pelicans on Gaillard Island, Alabama (2011)

I think there is an uptick in the number of pelicans out there, and maybe even royal terns. Overall, it looks like a great year, said Roger Clay, with the state Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries.

Back in the early 1990s, shortly after the island was created out of the dirt dug up to make the Theodore Industrial Canal, around 1,000 pairs of pelicans showed up to nest. This year, there are 4,000 to 6,000 pairs, along with more than 10,000 pairs of gulls, herons, ibis and terns.
 
The 8,000 pelicans are now raising around 16,000 chicks, while the 20,000 gulls and other birds are raising around 40,000 chicks, meaning there are more than 80,000 birds on the island.

 We can always throw that caveat that we won’t know for years if the spill caused a problem, but a good hunch is that in the short term, it doesn’t appear to have had an effect, Clay said last week.

He said nearly every kind of shorebird common in the state nests on Gaillard. The island is prime bird habitat for two reasons: there are no predators and there are no people.