I first met the EBs in August 1973.  I was with my colleague Harvey Croze, who helped set up the Project. At the time we were working part-time on the study based in Nairobi. On that trip we photographed several families, and among them was a female with bony shoulders who carried her head low.  We found this "head-low female" again in November of that year and photographed her along with an older female who had two U-shaped tears out of her right ear. I saw these two females together several more times over the next months.  It appeared that they belonged to a small family consisting of about seven members.

Echo with her radio collar in 1974

In April 1974 Harvey and I put radio-collars on three adult females in the population.  At that time we did not know the population well and thus we simply chose the animals opportunistically, trying to find matriarchs from different parts of the Park to determine their movements and distribution.  We decided to start in the East.  We went to the Longinye Swamp and the first group we came upon happened to be the family with the "head-low" and "U-nicks right" females. We chose the oldest female, the matriarch, and Harvey shot her with a dart containing an immobilizing drug.  The collar was quickly secured, some measurements taken, and then she was given an antidote which took affect very rapidly.  In a few minutes she was up on her feet and in less than half an hour she was back with her family.  We were fascinated to see that the family, although very frightened, would not leave the scene but rather waited about 200 meters away watching nervously.  On this day we were able to get a good look at the family and note down the age structure.  There were two adult females, two adolescents--a male and female, and three calves--one about two years old, another about five years old, and the third about six years old. 

 We hadn't yet assigned the family an alphabetical code nor had we given the females names.  Because we often saw these elephants closely associated with the family that we had already assigned the code EA to, we assigned them the code EB.  We named the matriarch with the radio collar "Echo" because of the sounds her collar was making, and the second female "Emily".  Echo was the female with the two U-shaped nicks, and Emily was the "head-low female".  

 To read the full history of the EB family on our website, click here.  

If just the 1,000-plus readers of our newsletter would donate a few dollars (pick your currency) a week -- the price of a couple of cappuccinos -- it would meet our core operating costs. 

A good number of Elephant Sustainers making small but steady weekly contributions via their credit or debit card would enable ATE to plan more effectively around long-term costs such as the work of our dynamic Maasai women field team. 

 For over three decades, Cynthia has been travelling to the USA to make or renew contact with a small but loyal group of individual and foundation donors to raise enough cash to keep our elephant conservation and research work going. Our 'regulars' still provide terrific encouragement and support, but this year, due to the financial crisis, we are in a serious cash situation.  

We have had to make significant cutbacks in our vital outreach to the Maasai community -- bursaries for school girls, scholarships for promising young university candidates, consolation for loss or injury from human-elephant encounters -- just to be able to pay salaries of the field team and fuel for the field vehicles.  

 We need to be more efficient and effective in our fund-raising, and help Cynthia to spend less time on the road and more time overseeing the vital work here in Amboseli: securing corridors for elephant in the ecosystem, maintaining the projects uniquely strong science base, and adding her influential advocacy voice to international campaigns for elephants and ecosystems.

A very small donation of $3 to $10 per week from 1,000 Amboseli Elephant Sustainers would enable our conservation and research to continue uninterrupted without fear of a cash crisis. The Sustainers would be actively participating "to ensure the long-term conservation and welfare of Africa's elephants in the context of human needs and pressures through scientific research, training, community outreach, public awareness and advocacy" (our mission).

Echo with her last calf and grandkids: their future is in our hands

A sustaining donation is very easy to set up. Click on the 'Become a Sustainer' button in the left sidebar. That will take you to our Click&Pledge page. The minimum amount you can enter is US$ 40. But if you want, for example, to donate $5 per week, click on 'Make my payment recurring' and select every '2 Months'. If you want to sacrifice two cappuccinos a week, you could select '1 Month'. Whatever you decide.

We've seen over the years that donating is an act of hope and of trust. The trustees and staff of ATE feel a weighty sense of responsibility to be the stewards of such hope on behalf of the elephants. Our team is deeply committed to respecting the trust you place in us. We in turn hope that you will help us sustain the Amboseli elephants now and into the future -- a future we are now measuring in the lifespan of the calves that will be born tomorrow.