The Expedition Plush

Save the Elephants (STE) uses GPS-tracking equipment to better understand elephant movements and behaviour. As the human population grows across Africa and the landscape gets increasingly crowded, this tracking data is key to defining and protecting elephant habitats and the corridors that link areas used by both elephants and other wildlife. To date, STE has tracked over 900 elephants!

Using this technology they can also tell when an elephant has become unnaturally mobile – a warning that can indicate that an elephant is in trouble. These alerts are issued to wildlife management teams to allow a rapid response and can make the difference between life and death.

STE provides Fahlo with delayed tracking data for security reasons so we’re never giving away an elephant’s live location. Despite this delay, you’ll still receive a near daily update of your elephant’s location from just a few weeks ago!

To learn more about why elephants are tracked, visit our partner Save the Elephants directly at savetheelephants.org.

“Elephant collars contain a small transmitter and use GPS and satellite tracking technology (similar to what we use in car navigation systems). Save the Elephants monitors the location of a collared elephant at regular intervals (every 30–60 minutes). This information plays an important part in defining and protecting elephant corridors. We later plot these coordinates on a map so you can see where your Fahlo elephant has traveled!” - Save the Elephants

To learn more, visit our partner directly at savetheelephants.org.

“No—the collar does not harm the elephant; it is very light and sits loosely around the neck like a pendant would on us. Collaring is carefully performed by an experienced team. Firstly, an elephant is located by a ground team or from the air, then a vet will prepare and shoot a dart containing an anesthetic. A collar is fitted as quickly and safely as possible before the vet helps revive the elephant in minutes.” - Save the Elephants

To learn more, visit our partner directly at savetheelephants.org.

With the largest brain of any land animal, elephants are incredibly smart. They can use tools, understand human body language and mimic human voices, show empathy toward other animals and each other, and demonstrate astounding capabilities to create and store memories. It’s the reason you may have heard that elephants never forget!

The greatest factors contributing to elephant extinction are all related to human activity; the sharing of land in Asia and Africa has created conflict between humans and elephants, making them targets. The most harmful activities include poaching, hunting them for their ivory, and habitat destruction.

Surprisingly, elephants are most scared of two very small creatures: bees and mice. Bees scare them because they tend to swarm. While one bee sting is relatively harmless, hundreds of stings at once can be very painful. Mice are frightening because they tend to startle elephants due to their small size.

Many elephants live fairly long lives, some surviving 60–70 years, while males often live longer (even up to 90 years)!

Tusks are actually elongated front teeth that never stop growing, though they’re not used for chewing. Elephants use their tusks to dig for roots or water, strip bark from trees, lift objects, or as a defensive tool against predators or other elephants competing for mates.

Ivory poaching presents a major threat to wild elephants; many view ivory as extremely culturally valuable, and poachers cause thousands of elephant deaths every year in order to remove their tusks. Most often, they’re turned into artwork or trinkets sold in other parts of the world.