Support Elephants

Protect Elephants from Exploitation

  • Support a Global Ban on the Ivory Trade
  • Do Not — buy products made from Ivory
  • Do Not — buy products made from elephant skins or tail hair (shoes, briefcase, belts, or bracelets)
  • Do Not — ride elephants or attend a circus

Support Field Research

Dr. Barbara McKnight has conducted non-interference research on the behavior of Tsavo elephants at the population and known individual levels since 1989. Many of the known bulls and families have been monitored for more than a decade. She works full time in Tsavo studying elephant behavior. Her research focuses on the short and long term influences of environmental conditions and human activities on Tsavo elephants: age structure, social organization, reproductive patterns, habitat use, and core-home range. She has also studied elephant behavior on private land adjacent to the park: elephant numbers, group structure, temporal-spatial distribution, and movements between the National park and private land. Her current research is focused specifically on known bull social dynamics and long-term bonds in Tsavo East National Park.

Before starting elephant behavior field work Barbara studied marine mammals (whales and dolphins) for three years off the coast of California. She worked for two years in Ethiopia with the Peace Corps as a teacher and nutritionist at the Dessie drought relief camp. She received her Ph.D. and M.Sc. from the University of Oxford, UK and a BA from the University of Northern Colorado, US.

Donate

Funds are needed to continue this long-term study on the behaviors of known bulls and families. My objectives are to protect the elephants and their habitat and secure the future of this research project. Tsavo Elephant Research is supported by African Elephant Conservation Research Foundation, www.aecrf.org.

Barbara is the co-founder of the Kenya registered NGO (OP.218/051/22-132/12677) founded in 2022. You can donate to the elephant research project directly or through the foundation. Contact Barbara for details.

Emails:
bmcknight@tsavoelephants.org
info@aecrf.org

Thank You

Barbara