Researchers reunite elephant calf with her family

The 4-month-old orphaned elephant calf was disoriented from a bumpy truck ride and didn’t immediately move toward the other elephants. Earlier that day, she had wandered into a tourist camp in northern Kenya, where well-meaning campsite staff had tied her to a tree and called a research team led by Colorado State University Professor George Wittemyer, who has studied elephants in the region for nearly 30 years.

After an intensive search of Samburu National Reserve to identify the family missing a calf, Wittemyer and his team delivered her to the herd they were almost certain was her family.

Would the family recognize the calf and welcome her back? The researchers waited eagerly to see.

The calf’s aunt, known to the researchers as Adelaide, noticed the baby and came to investigate. Adelaide called to the calf, and the calf called back. The exchange set off a chain reaction. The entire family rumbled, trumpeted and converged on the calf, surrounding her in what Wittemyer described as the greeting ceremony elephants perform after extended separation.

“Elephants are highly social, forming powerful bonds between each other that last a lifetime,” Wittemyer said. "Similar to our societies, these bonds make up the social fabric of elephant society and underpin the rich behaviors elephants exhibit.”

Caring for the calf – by giving her water and a cooling mud bath – and then delivering her to her family was a detour from the researchers’ planned work on landscape protection for the species. But the call and response confirmed they had done the right thing by returning the calf to her family. Sadly, they later found the body of her mother, who presumably had died of natural causes.  

Wittemyer and his colleagues at Save the Elephants, a nonprofit conservation organization, closely follow the lives of the elephants in Samburu National Reserve, tracking their births, deaths and the extraordinary complexity of their social networks and behavior. The fieldwork that allowed them to identify the wayward calf and reunite her with her family is critical to the conservation of African elephants.

Research to save all elephants

Wittemyer’s life’s work has been to study and preserve African elephants across the continent. He spends two to four months in Africa each year conducting research as a CSU faculty member and as the chief scientist for Save the Elephants. Wittemyer and his collaborators have made unprecedented discoveries about the species, including research showing that elephants call each other by name. 

“My work focuses on understanding the rich and complex social lives of elephants, so we can better understand their needs and engender fascination and interest in their lives among the people living with them and the global public,” Wittemyer said.

His ongoing research examines information encoded in elephant vocalizations, elephant leadership structures, causes of mortality and how to protect corridors that connect elephant populations across rapidly changing landscapes.

During his most recent trip, Wittemyer and his team used drones to study herd movement and leadership, and they outfitted one elephant per group with a GPS radio collar for tracking collective movements. An acoustic recorder also was attached to each collar to record complex and varied elephant calls to try to decipher what they are communicating. The collars are solar-powered and set to drop off after the four-and-a-half-year study period, but they often fall off sooner due to wear and tear and harsh environmental conditions.

The researchers log the elephants’ travel on unprotected lands outside the park to understand which areas are important to them and to determine prime locations for conservation. Wittemyer and his colleagues have been tracking the movement of elephants within and beyond the reserve for more than 20 years. During that time, the elephants’ range has contracted in areas where the human population has expanded and wilderness has been developed for human use.

As the largest land mammal, elephants need a lot of space and can be destructive to property and hazardous to people – making it essential to protect their high-traffic areas before they are developed, to avoid conflict between elephants and people.

“Landscape integrity and protection is critical for the species’ survival given projections about human population growth in Africa over the next 80 years,” Wittemyer said. “At the same time, we need solutions that reduce the challenges of living alongside elephants while helping people appreciate the remarkable lives these animals lead.”

As one of the world’s foremost experts on African elephants, Wittemyer serves on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s African Elephant Specialist Group. He meets regularly with national government officials to discuss conservation strategies to protect this endangered animal from its biggest threats – habitat loss, illegal hunting and ivory poaching.

From field to classroom

When he’s not on an African savanna or providing scientific data to back up conservation policies, Wittemyer is teaching classes in the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology in CSU’s Warner College of Natural Resources. He was recognized with a 2026 Best Teacher Award based on nominations from students, faculty and alumni.

“He makes certain every student walks away with a better understanding of systems as a whole, from the environment to the policies that influence conservation,” undergraduate student Elizabeth Parker said. “He wants his students to represent CSU and one of the best fish, wildlife and conservation biology programs in the world.”

Back on the reserve

The rescued calf belonged to a matriarch the researchers called Sylvia, who had sustained a jaw injury from a gunshot more than a decade earlier. Sylvia had a history of separating from her group during difficult seasons, and she had been missing for about two weeks the day the calf was returned.

Elephants have tight family and community bonds, and the baby elephant’s aunts, Adelaide and Markle, cared for her after her mother's death. Markle, who had lost her own calf earlier in the year, even nursed the hungry prodigal calf upon her return. 

The morning after the joyous reunion brought a brief scare: The calf appeared motionless in a river depression after the family had moved to higher ground. The research team feared she had died in the night.

About an hour later, the calf woke from a nap and began calling out. The family heard her and made their way back to collect her, with Adelaide leading them into the river to surround the calf before guiding her up the embankment – a touching demonstration of the species’ social intelligence. These wondrous examples of complex elephant behavior drive Wittemyer’s quest to understand and protect them.

“Elephants are one of the most sentient and, therefore, relatable animals we share this planet with,” Wittemyer said. “But they are big and need space and resources as a result. Only with determination and foresight can we ensure the protection and survival of elephants – something I have faith we will accomplish.”