Thirsty, Thirsty Elephants by Sandra Markle

Author:Sandra Markle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Charlesbridge

Author’s Note

There’s very often a real animal that inspires each of my books. This book is based on the

story of an older elephant that saved her herd during a long drought. Researchers named

her Big Mama.

It happened in 1994, when a drought that struck the Tarangire National Park area of

Tanzania went on for several years. Finding a source of water close to food was becoming

impossible, as all kinds of grazers packed together on the banks of the park’s shrinking

rivers. Many different kinds of animals were drinking up the diminishing rivers and eating

all the grass. It became harder and harder for herds of elephants to get the nourishment that

they need in order to stay healthy.

However, this wasn’t the first time the area had suffered such a long drought. A shortage

of water had also happened about thirty years earlier. In the wild, elephants can live well

into their late sixties. Dr. Charles Foley, a researcher with the Wildlife Conservation Society

in Tanzania, was interested in the behavior of an elephant that had lived through both

droughts. This elephant was Big Mama. Dr. Foley believes that when water became scarce in

1994, Big Mama led her herd away from their familiar grazing area to new water sources that

she might have remembered visiting during the earlier drought, when she was just a calf.

Dr. Foley said, “The elephants aren’t radio-collared, so I don’t know exactly where Big

Mama took her herd. However, after the rains came and her herd returned to the park, they

were in good condition, unlike some herds led by much younger females. I believe Big

Mama led her herd to a water source she remembered from that earlier drought.”

I’m delighted to share that, as of 2016, Big Mama is still alive and her herd is now forty

elephants strong—the second largest in Tarangire National Park in Tanzania.

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