Anna and her herd are now monitored via a GPS collar on another adult female elephant in the herd named Mutiara. She is part of Anna’s core family group. Mutiara, which means pearl in the Indonesian language, was collared in February 2019.
Mutiara and Anna are part of a herd of up to 30 elephants. This herd shares much of their time and home range with Ginting, Indah, and, to a lesser extent, with Cinta. There are several calves and juveniles of all ages in the herd which indicates healthy natural population growth which is wonderful.
In early October 2020, Mutiara was observed undertaking a risky crossing of the WKS industry road in order to keep following Ginting who she is close with. Our Elephant Conservation and Monitoring Units reported that ten elephants including Mutiara and Ginting were crossing to the south, where planted crops were obviously so attractive that the elephants dared this risky crossing. Thankfully, at the end of November 2020, efforts to herd Mutiara back to the northern side were finally successful and they headed to the LAJ Wildlife Conservation Area (WCA).
In December 2020, the journey of the herds continued to the western part of the WCA where a big fusion with Cinta, Indah, and Freda’s herds was observed. This was amazing to watch. The total area covered by Mutiara’s herd including both sides of the corridor road was 1,151 km².
Thank you so much to our elephant adopters for helping to protect these precious herds of Critically Endangered Sumatran elephants.
