World Elephant Day is celebrated on 12 August. The date was created with the main objective of preserving this animal, which, although it is the largest land mammal on the planet, is vulnerable because of attacks by poachers.

In this context, in the forest of the Niassa Special Reserve, President Filipe Nyusi recently named the new leader of a herd of elephants in that Conservation Area, by attaching a satellite monitoring collar.

This was an operation which initially was intended to change the collar on another elephant, known as “Mr President”, placed by Nyusi in 2018. But this proved imposable because that elephant was in dense forest and could not be located.

While “Mr President” was taking refuge in the forest, his brother was nearby, following all the movements. So President Nyusi, accompanied by the First Lady, Isaura Nyusi, put the satellite monitoring collar on the brother of “Mr President” whom he named “The Gentleman”, as the new leader of the herd. According to President Nyusi, “The Gentleman” took on the leadership of the group in the absence of his brother.

This act took place as part of the ceremony marking World Ranger Day at the head office of the Niassa Special Reserve (Mbatamila), in Mecula district, Niassa province, and is one of the efforts made to protect elephants in our beautiful Mozambique.  The ceremony was organized by the National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC), the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the Foundation for the Conservation of Biodiversity (BIOFUND) among other conservation partners.