Elephants, Ghana, Mole National Park.

Elephants

My first visit to Mole National Park in 2004 was with an expedition organised by the Scientific Exploration Society, led by Professor Adrian Lister of London University. The purpose was to study the elephants in order to determine whether they were forest elephants, savannah elephants or a hybrid, and thereby to gather evidence for or against the thesis that the elephants of Africa belong to one species or two.

Turns out that the elephants of Mole are intermediate between forest and savannah elephants, so it appears that they are hybrid forms, and Africa's elephants therefore belong to one species.

Elephant obstructed on way to waterhole

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Elephant dung with fungi

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Bull elephant approaching from savannah Mole National Park Ghana

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Reluctant elephant being invited into the waterhole Mole National Park

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Elephant tracks in dried up river bed towards the end of the dry season northern Ghana

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Elephants flee in panic through a waterhole on hearing two shots from a poacher s rifle Mole National Park Northern Ghana

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Bull elephant threatens and flaps his ears as the herd passes behind him

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Savannah Elephant, Loxodonta africana, in Mole National Park, Ghana.

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Savannah Elephant, Loxodonta africana, in Mole National Park, Ghana.

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Herd of Savannah Elephants, Loxodonta africana, in Mole National Park, Ghana.

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