KNYSNA NEWS - At the end of January 1969, Nick Carter, a game warden, was commissioned to conduct a thorough study of the Knysna elephants. The survey began on 1 February 1969 and ended in January 1970.
In May 1969, during the survey, Carter photographed a pregnant cow with a large bull (the largest of the Knysna group, with a shoulder height of approximately 3.4 metres) in the Harkerville area.
10 elephants
Carter counted a total of 10 elephants during his survey. Two months after the survey, in March 1970, the pregnant cow gave birth to a calf.
During the 1970s, the large bull (nicknamed Champion), the cow (nicknamed Elderberry), and the calf were regularly seen along the N2, near Garden of Eden.
The last time the N2 was crossed by Knysna elephants was in 1977.
By March 1981, it was determined that there were at least three Knysna elephants left: an old bull, an adult cow, and the animal born in 1970.
Read more about this article in this weeks edition of the Knysna-Plett Herald.
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