16 Mar 2007 -Englebert
"Bert" Dausip, a WWF-Malaysia
field researcher, has been tracking pygmy
elephants since 1999. For weeks at a time,
Bert disappears into Borneo’s unforgiving
forests and swamps to record the movements
and behaviour of the secretive pachyderm.
Here is what Bert has to stay about tracking
pygmy elephants:
What is your favorites thing about tracking
elephants?
What I find challenging about tracking elephants
is trying to determine how old their tracks
are and what the broken branches and footprints
indicate about a herd’s size and how long
they have been in an area. From studying
the kind of sandflies that are found lingering
around elephant dung, I can estimate how
long ago the elephant was there. If there
are no sandflies buzzing around, that means
the droppings are old and the elephant is
long gone.
This year, we will be collecting elephant
dung samples, which can identify individual
elephants and estimate the elephant population
of the northern Malaysian province of Sabah.
What is your least favorite thing about
tracking elephants?
My eyes always get swollen from swarms of
sandflies during tracking. I have learned
to wear eye goggles for protection from
such irritations.
If you could give people one message about
Borneo’s pygmy elephants, what would it
be?
Any land or plantation development should
take into account the elephants’ natural
travel range. It is important to preserve
a corridor of life for their movement and
habitat.
What is the most interesting/surprising
thing that you have learned about the pygmy
elephants?
Elephants communicate with each other by
making fascinating calls. Different elephant
calls mean different things. I am keen to
learn how to distinguish their calls.
Do you feel encouraged about the future
of pygmy elephants?
I have high hopes for the future of Borneo
pygmy elephants, especially with the strong
collaboration we have with the Sabah Wildlife
Department and local communities in monitoring
and managing elephant habitats.
How are you helping villagers who live
in elephant habitat deal with elephants
that come into their villages?
We educate the local communities about the
importance of reducing human-elephant conflict,
particularly advising on proper land-use
planning with respect to an elephant’s foraging
range. We also help villagers chase away
elephants that have strayed onto their property.
I also encourage villagers to notify the
authorities (Sabah Wildlife Department,
Elephant Control Unit in Sukau or WWF-Malaysia)
as early as possible about the presence
of elephants on their property, so that
the conflict between them and the elephants
can be reduced.
Animal Planet is airing a documentary in
March to viewers in Africa, the Middle East
and Europe that takes an in-depth look into
the lives of Borneo's pygmy elephants. The
show features WWF-Malaysia's Englebert "Bert"
Dausip as he tracks a herd of pygmy elephants
through the forests of Borneo.
