African elephant diary
Interdisciplinary MYP project
Teacher: Heidy Hollemweguer Student: Camila Rojas
Hello! I’m an African elephant and my name is Camila. My scientific name is Loxodonta, it means lozenge-shaped teeth for the chewing surfaces. I’m a mammal and my family is called “Elephantidae”. We are divided into two elephant species, the African bush elephant and the smaller African forest elephant. Both are herbivores. Our evolution started with elephants called “Primelephas”. After that elephant, three more came: The Mammoth, the Asian and the African elephant. Today they are at least 400,00 of us. We are distributed in Sub-Saharan Africa. Our habitat can be in flood plains, savannas, montane forests, etc. Most of us live in Sub-Saharan Africa, the rainforests of Central and West Africa and the Sahel desert in Malí.
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Some of the physical characteristics of my friends are: They have large ears, long tusks, thick skin, columnar legs, etc. We are herbivores. All of us eat roots, grasses, fruit and bark. Female African elephants are ready to breed when they are about 14 years and continue to breed until the age of 50. The life cycle of us have 3 stages: Baby stage, adolescent stage, and the adult stage. We play an important ecological role in balancing nature ecosystems. All of us trample forests and dense grasslands, making room for smaller species to coexist. Elephants can live up to 70 years in the wild. We live a median of 56 years in the wild.
I’m in danger of extinction because of the ivory trade, where humans kill the elephants just for their ivory and to sell them, and also because of the habitat loss.
9:30 pm Monday 13th, 2020
Dear diary, Today was a really exciting day, because when I was coming back home after eating some delicious plants, I saw some of my friends playing with mud, so I told my mom if I could go and of course she said yes. I played with my friends for a long time and when it was dinner time I couldn’t believed that my mom prepared my favourite food! It was fruits with grasses, it was so delicious! Today was a fantastic day, because I was very happy when I played with my friends and when I ate some delicious food, I couldn’t be more grateful. Well it’s time for me to sleep. Dumbo splashy
9:00 pm Tuesday 28th, 2020.
Dear diary, Today was the saddest day of my life. When I was with my friends exploring our habitat, we smelled something terrible, it smelled like a dead fish but worse. So, we went to see what was that smell and when we were in the place from where the smell came, we saw it was our friend’s grandfather, he was dead! We were really scared and went running to our houses, I told my mom what happened and she immediately told her friends. After that, I had a trauma but it was okay for me. All of my friend’s parents prepared a ceremony because of the death of one of us, that ceremony will be next week. My mom told me that my friend’s grandfather died because a human kill him, just because he wanted its ivory, after that I was really sad and angry, and I asked myself, why would humans do that? Well it’s time for me to go to sleep. Dumbo splashy
9:40 pm Friday 29th, 2020. Dear diary, Today was the most dangerous day of my life! It all started this morning. I woke up at 8 am, it was all okay until I realized all of my friends were nervous and scared. I went to ask my friends what was going on, and they told me there was a group of humans killing more African elephants. Humans wanted to get rid of us! I was really scared, but my mom told me everything was going to be okay. After that, all of us stayed at home for some hours, we couldn’t get out because humans were going to kill us if they saw us. Anyways, I think we are safe now. I wish humans don’t kill more of us again. Well it’s time for me to go to sleep. Dumbo Splashy
9:30 pm Thursday 5th June, 2020
Dear diary, Today when I was walking around my friend’s house a strange thought came into my mind. What I was wondering was, why are humans hunting us? I mean, we didn’t do something to make them mad. For me, it seemed unfair that they are trying to kill us for no reason. I went back to my house and asked my mom if she knew the reason. My mom sat down and told me that they killed us to get our ivory and sell it to other people. I was surprised, I couldn’t believe that was the reason. I wonder why our ivory is so important. One thing that I know too, is that most of us die because we loss our home. Well it’s time for me to sleep. Dumbo Splashy
10:25 pm Friday 11th June, 2020 Dear diary, Today I met a human named Olivia, it was really strange that she was walking around the forest all alone. For a moment I thought she was like the other people, and was going to kill all of us, which made me nervous and scared. Suddenly, I felt her hand touching my head softly and calmly, that made me relax a little bit more. Olivia started talking to me, it was a bit awkward because I knew she wouldn’t understand my language, but she continued talking. She was telling me about her life and her problems, it turns out she was still a teenager of 13 years old. She had straight, brown short hair, her eyes were light blue and she wasn’t that tall but she seemed friendly. We were walking around the forest and became really close friends. It was almost 6 o’clock, I saw a giant big mud pit, so I went there and started playing with the mud. Olivia saw me, with a face of confusion , but she ran after me and started playing with the mud too. Hours passed, and both of us cleaned our bodies, she cleaned it with her towel, and I cleaned mine with some water from the river. Sadly, we needed to go back home, so we told each other goodbye and went to opposite directions. I hope one day we could see each other again. This experience was the best, it made my day full of fun. Well, it’s time for me to go back to sleep. Dumbo Splashy
10:15 pm Friday 19th June, 2020 Dear diary, Today my mom woke me up too early, I was confused and sleepy, because I didn’t know what was happening. When I went outside, I saw all the houses destroyed and many elephants injured, I immediately started to panic. My mom calmed me down, and told me that the humans, our worst enemies, were invading our habitat and trying to kill all of us. For a moment, I thought of hiding in the bushes. Suddenly, I knew exactly what I could do to help, I asked my mom if I could search for help and, without thinking it she said yes. I went running to the forest where I met Olivia last week. I was wondering where could she be, and luckily I found her taking care of some plants. I started to beg her to please help all the African elephants because we were in too much danger, I told her what was happening in my house. Olivia hold my trunk and started walking to other direction. We walked for ten minutes, and told me to wait here until she’s back. Minutes passed, and Olivia was back with more humans. We were talking and it turns out that they were going to take all of us to their zoo, which was named “Smithsonian National Zoo”, that was incredible! When I was back home, I told all the elephants to trust the humans because they were going to give us a new shelter. Hours passed, and we were finally in the new home, everyone was very happy. I think today some humans are being more friendly than others, I was surprised Olivia helped me, she was my hero today. Well it’s time for me to sleep. Dumbo Splashy
10:00 pm Friday 26th June, 2020 Dear diary, Time has passed since the incident happened. I’m still getting used to live in the zoo, of course it isn’t the same as when I was in the wild but I like it better here. There are many things to do in my new home, for example: I get more baths than usual, Olivia plays with me and many more activities. There’s just one thing I don’t like about the zoo, it is that the place where I’m staying is small compared to my old house but Olivia told me there are many other animals here, so we needed to share space. Most of the days I go to the pool with my friends or play with mud. My favorite part of the day is lunch, because in the zoo they give the best food, yesterday they gave me some delicious berries with some roots, it was tasty! Oh, I forgot to tell you something, Olivia told me that tomorrow I will meet new elephants that were in the zoo before me, I’m very scared but at the same time very excited. I’ve noticed that this place has too much security, in the entrance door there are some people with dark clothes and in the exit people with blue clothes. In the place when I’m staying there’s also security, because is like a small forest but with security bars around. Honestly, I feel safe being in this place, not only because there is security but also because I have my friends and my family with me. Well, it’s time for me to go. Dumbo Splashy
Credits: Student: Camila Rojas Interdisciplinary project MYP 7C Lord Byron School