The case of the Knysna elephants is just another reminder of how we’ve buggered things up.

Sorry, elephant. Singular.

Recently, following an extensive survey by South African National Parks (SANParks), it was declared that there is now conclusive proof that there is only one elephant roaming Knysna forest.

The same, lone female was snapped over and over by cameras placed throughout the forest – 72 of them, placed in 38 separate locations.

Many of those who responded to our story pointed to Gareth Patterson, who claims he has found DNA evidence of other elephants in the area.

Gareth’s findings are addressed in the Carte Blanche story, which has this write-up:

Thousands of elephants once roamed the dense forests of Knysna but over the last 100 years they have been hunted to virtual extinction. For decades, debates have raged on about whether the last-sighted elephant in the forest is one of a family or a single, lone female. Now camera traps, set up along ancient elephant paths, record this heart-breaking story. Carte Blanche joins the tracking team on this remarkable search.

I’ll let you make your own mind up about the respective findings of SANParks and Gareth Patterson:

Hey, if part of my livelihood depended on the existence of Knysna elephants, I’d also be inclined to be optimistic.

[source:carteblanche]