Sorry
for my absence from blogging, but the Paralympics took up a lot of time (more
on that to come!) However, following on from my article on Contraception in
Animals, here we have an interview with the lovely Abi Hearn about her job at
the African Elephant Research Unit (AERU) in South Africa and how she snatched her dream job!
How
would you describe your job in a few words?
Well
to be honest my job is very broad and a few words would be pretty difficult! First
of all, I am a Research assistant to a PhD student, helping to collect
observational behavioural data and lovely dung samples! I am also the volunteer
co-ordinator assistant as I help to train new volunteers as well as the
education development and training officer. This means I am in charge of writing
an elephant handler course book and guide school groups around the interactive
centre and in the field. I am also helping with the re-design of the
interactive centre/museum. Finally, I am an AERU volunteer roll out officer. This
involves helping to set up a new volunteer research program, where we carrying
out research on elephants and other wildlife at other facilities. I am compiling
information packs, conducting preliminary research, identifying zebras and
teaching the volunteers about the animals and how to track them.
(I
told you it would not be just a few words!)
How did you get to this role?
After graduating from Nottingham with my Zoology degree I
decided to move to South Africa to do a year long course training to become a
professional Safari Guide. The first six months were spent training in the
middle of the African bush and every encounter I had with the elephants made me
admire them even more. When it came around to doing the six month placement I
decided to look around for placements with elephants. I ended up at the African
Elephant Research Unit at the Knysna Elephant Park as a research assistant. I
was thoroughly enjoying it and getting stuck in to everything I could. It must
have paid off because after a few months they asked if I would like to stay and
I happily accepted!
Let’s
talk about the ‘nitty gritty’ science! You have experience vaccinating
elephants with a GnRH vaccine – why do particular herds need vaccination?
Wild Male elephants will leave a herd at around 11 years,
they then join an Ascari herd – a
bachelor herd where there is one dominant, older Bull elephant. He will teach
these young Bulls how to behave, stop delinquent behaviour and also suppress
musth in the younger males until they are a lot older. Musth is the surge in
testosterone which makes them more aggressive and they will then instinctively
travel long distances from areas where they may be related to cows. In
captivity there is not an older male so they tend to go into musth at an
earlier age, making them more difficult to manage.
The only solution is to send the males to game reserves where
they pose less danger to humans. GnRH vaccinations are a means of reducing
aggressive behaviour and musth by stopping testosterone production (and it also
hinders sperm production). The elephants I am working with are part of an
ongoing study with Imke (see article)
and other reproductive specialists. She is doing the study on a mixture of wild
and captive African elephant bulls- our elephants are the ‘hands-on’ (in
contact with humans) elephants that are part of her study.
How
does the GnRH vaccine work?
It
is an immunocontraceptive, meaning it causes the body to produce antibodies
against the hormone GnRH, preventing the release of hormones such as
Testosterone. The potential benefits for GnRH vaccination
in wild elephants includes less wandering, damage, crop-raiding and less
human-elephant conflicts. In captivity GnRH enables easier handling and housing
of males. It’s just like a normal vaccine with its advantages and
disadvantages. It is non-invasive and easy to apply but it has to be repeated
and effects vary on between individuals.
Is
this used on bulls and cows alike and at what age?
Bulls
only. The youngest elephant in the study was 8 years old when it had it’s first
vaccination, but our elephants are older with the youngest on the GnRH vaccine being
about 15. The Bulls range up to 30 years old as
a small part of the study is to see if age plays any part of how effective GnRH
is in suppressing musth.
You have also worked on female PZP
contraceptives – how does it work and is it effective despite being derived
from porcine protein?
The female contraceptive PZP is being researched on Makalali Private
Game Reserve, it is an immunocontraception and has been researched since 2000
by Audrey Delsink. It works by generating antibodies that prevent sperm binding
to receptor sites on the egg’s Zona Pellucida, preventing fertilisation. As it
is a porcine derived protein, the Zona Pellucida is mixed before administration
to make it more effective. The vaccination has no affect on current pregnancies
so does not cause abortions. It is a more natural form of contraception as does
not involve hormonal manipulation and allows females to have one calf before vaccination
as allomothering (looking after others young) is very important to elephants. The
objective for PZP is to slow growth rate of the herd. Before the program on the
reserve the growth rate was 8.9% per year; they have seen a 70% reduction in
growth rate.
Why do
you feel so passionately about elephants, given that you grew up in a country
so far away?
When I was young my nan took me to Whipsnade zoo, it was the
first time that just me and her went out and I was so excited! The elephants
were huge and amazing, I was blown away, but I hated that they had to be in a zoo
to stop them from being poached in the wild. I decided from an early age that I
wanted to work in Africa with the animals in the wild and make sure they were
conserved. So I decided to study Zoology!
My nan died just before I went to university and she left a little
money to the grandchildren that she said we were to use to better ourselves or help
us achieve our goals in life. Because she knew I wanted to work in Africa I
decided to do a month long course in South Africa training to be a Safari
Guide. That month was the most spectacular month of my life! The first time I
saw an elephant in the Kruger Park I actually cried (weird I know!), and I just
fell in love with them even more.
It’s
ok, I am a crier too! Finally, what would you say to people who think that
animal contraception is interfering with nature too far?
Elephants
are not endangered they are only stated as Vulnerable on the IUCN red list.
There are over 600,000 elephants still in Africa and even though the
populations in central Africa are still dwindling because of poaching, the
Southern Africa elephant populations are booming and there is nowhere left to
put these elephants! Other species are suffering because of the overpopulation.
As a conservationist you are trying to preserve biodiversity and therefore as
many species of flora and fauna as possible, not just elephants!
It is so hard to not
manage nature anymore. There are few places in Africa where people are not interfering
in some way to keep the balance. As natural areas have been reduced, management
MUST occur. Elephants are managed in four ways; relocation, culling, range
expansion and contraception. Culling was banned in 1996 while relocations are
far too expensive to send elephants across country borders. Range expansion is
slowly happening – people are pulling down fences and joining reserves and
parks together, but not quickly enough. The only long term resolution
realistically at the moment is contraception. In
an ideal world we would not have to manage nature but until areas are large
enough for this to happen, I completely 100% back contraception as a way to
manage population sizes.