KASIGAU, KENYA

African savanna elephants, the largest land animals on our planet, are also some of the most awe-inspiring. Their incredible memories help them remember key foraging areas as they migrate across the savannahs. Their emotional intelligence and empathy keep their close-knit social groups strong in the face of adversity. They have rich social lives, complete with moments of joy and mourning periods (or “elephant funerals”) when members of their herd die. African elephants are known as “ecosystem engineers” because they create unique habitats for other species by physically altering the environment. Just through their massive footprints, they create small ponds for frogs. They also help to fertilize the soil and spread the seeds of plants that they eat, contributing positively to the life cycle of the ecosystem. Human-wildlife conflict is now one of the top threats to Savanna elephants across Africa, whose populations have decreased by at least 60% over the last 50 years, according to the latest IUCN assessments. Climate change related drought is also an emerging threat to elephants: Kenyan wildlife officials recently reported that drought now kills 20x more elephants than poaching, with 179 elephants succumbing to dehydration in just the first half of 2022. An estimated 11,000 elephants use the corridor as a key migratory route, and over 2,000 elephants use the space as a permanent home.

Giraffes, the silent giants of the savannah, are pivotal to the health of the ecosystem at our Kasigau Corridor project. With their 6 foot long necks, giraffes feed on and prune the top browse of the iconic, thorny Acacia trees. In this way, giraffes don’t compete with other smaller herbivores for food, and open up the canopy so that plants below can receive more light. In reciprocation, giraffes help spread acacia seeds across the savannah as they migrate. In the last 30 years, giraffe populations across Africa have decreased by over 40% and there are now only around 100,000 giraffes left in Africa. Climate change related droughts, habitat loss and fragmentation, trophy hunting and poaching for giraffe skins and tails are all contributing factors to their decline.

Lions are apex predators, and perform the critical job of managing herbivore populations. Without lions, ecosystems become unbalanced, and unchecked populations of zebras, gazelles, and antelopes inevitably overgraze grasslands, leading to habitat degradation. By going after the weakest members of the herd (often those carrying parasites, disease, or genetic defects) lions help to maintain healthy, resilient populations and prevent the spread of disease. Despite this importance, lion populations continue to dwindle globally due to poaching and habitat loss caused by human activities. Worldwide, there are only an estimated 30-40,000 mature lions left in Africa, and they are listed as Vulnerable to extinction on the IUCN. At any given time, there are 15-30 lions in our project area.

The White-backed vulture, a critically endangered species at our protected area in Kenya, is critical to maintaining ecosystem health. It may not be the most glamorous of jobs, but as the “garbage men'' of the Savannas, vultures remove toxins from the environment that are harmful to both humans and other species. Despite this importance, 70% of all African vulture species are endangered. Certain medications for cattle, such as Diclofenac, are poisonous to vultures who eat their remains. Vultures are also sometimes intentionally poisoned by poachers who don’t want the flock of birds to give away the location of an illegally killed animal. The loss of vultures ricochets through the food web and detrimentally affects many species, including humans. Without vultures, other scavengers like rats and feral dogs can fill their ecological niche, which leads to harmful diseases being transmitted back to, and in some instances, killing humans. In the case of vultures, it is clear that wildlife works to maintain ecosystem and human health. In partnership with local communities, we are committed to protecting endangered vulture species and the Kasigau Corridor they inhabit.