Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Introduced Elephant Project

This project is funded by Pretoria Portland Cement.

Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park is located in northern KwaZulu Natal Province. The park extends over about 100 000ha of savanna, and includes a wide range of plant and animal species, including the "big five".

Unfortunately, a problem has arisen in the Park because young male elephants are killing both black and white rhino. About 40 rhino have been killed by the elephants. This behaviour had been previously noted in Pilanesberg National Park, and was ascribed to young bull elephants in musth. Musth is a state of heightened aggression associated with reproduction, and the young elephants are entering musth at around 18 years old, instead of at about 30. The normal pattern is for bulls to gradually enter musth, with the period lengthening with each event. The young bulls are entering full musth of up to 3 months at a time!

The elephant of HUP were reintroduced from Kruger Park from the early 1980's, and included mainly young orphans from culling operations. There are thus no older bulls in the park.

The solution is to create a structured heirarchy of bulls in the Park. The older bulls should suppress the musth behaviour of the younger bulls, and allow the younger bulls to become experienced in dealing with the consequences of musth.

The solution; HUP-elephant-home; musth;