Nature (1982–…): Season 29, Episode 2 - Echo: An Elephant to Remember - full transcript

In the shadow
of mount kilimanjaro

lies AMBOSELI national park.

It was the lifelong home
of echo,

africa's most famous elephant...

And her son ELY,

who overcame
the trauma of his birth

to join echo's
ever-growing family.

These are perhaps the best-known
wild elephants

in history, watched over
for more than 3O years

by scientist cynthia moss
and her colleagues from

the AMBOSELI trust
for elephants.



This is the story of their
remarkable matriarch,

who in life and death

remains the key
to her family's survival.

I touch her.

1 touch l-lER,
the temperature was going down,

and then she was snoring.

And then I can tell
those are signs of...

She's dying.

1 touch her,
she was some slowly by slowly.

As I was touching her,
she was looking at me

and blinking her eyes like this,
just blinking.

And then she --

she just looked at me,

the last minute
she blinked her eyes like this



and look at me...

And then she died.

It's good
one of us was there.

Yeah.

What is the legacy
that echo is passing on

to her own family
and to the people who loved her?

I met echo in 1973.

That's 36 years.

Who else do you know
for 36 years?

No pet you ever had
you knew for that long.

That's a long time!

Echo is a very,
very special elephant.

She is a leader, you know.

They trusted her so well.

I miss her a lot, a lot.

I miss her a lot...A lot.

At her death
from old age at 65,

will echo's immense experience,

gained by her forebears
over centuries,

be lost to her family?

The final test of a matriarch

is how well she passes on
that knowledge.

Her family has lost a strong
leader and a wise mother.

What lasting gifts
has she given her children?

Will they remember her lessons?

The glands at their temples
stream with emotion.

Echo guided this family

for almost half a century.

Now the 39-strong band
of relatives and descendants

face their greatest challenge...
Without her.

Echo's life had already unrolled

to the age of 28 by the time

cynthia first met her.

Her early days

are shrouded in mystery,
and no film exists.

She was probably born around
the end of the second world war,

and knowing now
what she has taught us

about family life, she must have
had a wise and caring mother.

Every day baby echo would follow
her mother back and forth

along well-trodden trails --

paths remembered by her family
for generation after generation,

learning where to go
when food was short

and times were dangerous.

In her early days
these journeys were great fun.

Only when she was older

did she discover how important
they were.

Echo was to learn these paths
by heart.

When she eventually
became a matriarch

and began teaching
her own young calves,

echo saw cynthia

watching her for the first time.

Cynthia also wanted to learn

from echo, and so found a device
that would eventually

bond the two of them together
for a very long time.

We decided we needed

to find out where the elephants
were some,

so we found a small family,

darted the matriarch,

and put the collar on.

And then, because she was making
this "beep, beep" noise,

we called her "echo."

And these were
the traditional old collars,

where you had to go around
with this aerial

and a little --
little box that ticked.

It was very fiddly.

I always found radio tracking
in that way

a lot of work for a little tiny
bit of information.

Echo turned out to be a homebody

and barely moved the whole time
her collar worked,

so she didn't give us
an awful lot of information,

but we did get to know her then,

we started to get to know her
and her family.

Echo discovered an area

that contained all the food,
water, and the safety she needed

to keep her family
out of harm's way.

She would only venture farther
when she absolutely had to.

It was this sensible
and stubborn attitude

that helped double the size of
her family to 14,

in only 17 years.

Cynthia kept detailed records

of all the elephants visiting
her base

at AMBOSELI national park.

She gave them names.

All echo's sons and daughters,
nieces and nephews,

all the members
of echo's family, the e-b's,

they all begin with
the same letter -- “e.“

she published two books
containing research

never before
recorded in the wild.

And along with the science

there was a good story.

It was after
we were already starting,

and I said, "let me go look
at the estrus records,

th e mating records,

and see if anyone's pregnant
in the family."

So I went and looked it up,

and lo and behold, echo herself

was going to have a calf.

An important day
dawned in echo's life.

Twenty-two months earlier,
cynthia had seen her mating.

The calf was due any time now.

Oh, excuse me,
it was that dust!

Cameraman MARTYN COLBECK

has been filming echo
and cynthia from the early days.

This looks like it.

Now they travel together

on a trip back in time.

There was a group of vultures
on the ground

in the far distance.

The birds were squabbling over
the remains of what could be

an elephant's placenta.

Well, 19 years ago...

We came out here
and we were so excited!

Only 3O yards away

stood echo
and some of her family...

And under echo,

the new baby.

That changed everything,
really, didn't it?

Really did, because
there was this...

Hurray!
Wonderful, great big baby.

Echo looked tired
but in good health.

Her calf was male,

and perhaps only two hours old.

And then...

You'd suddenly gone very quiet.

And then you said, "there's
something wrong with this baby."

Although echo had given birth

to at least four other
healthy calves,

something looked wrong
with this one.

He seemed unable to
straighten his legs.

This was very unusual.

Cynthia had seen
dozens of calves

and they could all stand within
half an hour of being born.

She kept putting her
trunk under his stomach

and trying to lift him,

and his carpal joints
were completely seized.

Echo didn't leave
her son for a minute.

Again and again, she tried to
help him to his feet.

ELY was sort of crumpled
underneath echo

and he couldn't move at all.

No, no.

And enid,
who was eight then --

echo's daughter enid,

just stuck by echo and ELY.

Yeah, yes.

And the others had been
around at the beginning,

hadn't they, and then they sort
of wandered off

and enid was
very torn between...

Yes, she kept listening
and calling to the others,

and then she walked away,
and at one point

she walked about 15 meters away
or something.

Enid was thirsty and hungry.

It was very hot.

The rest of the family
had gone to bathe.

Echo had found
a small water hole

and was cooling herself
with mud.

The stranded calf was clearly
suffering in the heat.

And then at that point,

echo tried again

to lift ELY
and he screamed,

he let out
a really awful baby --

deep baby scream.

Enid just spun around
and came tearing back.

Enid never left him again.

The following morning at dawn,
echo, her daughter enid,

and echo's new calf
had NoT traveled far.

The calf looked
surprisingly strong

and had learned to shuffle along
on his crippled legs.

Echo and enid were walking
very slowly alongside him,

adjusting their pace to ensure
that he wasn't left behind.

He wouldn't be able to hobble
around like this for very long

without his legs rubbing raw
and becoming infected.

They were tempted to help,

but the scientist's role
is to observe.

His survival depended on echo.

As MARTYN will tell you,

many times I told him
to stop filming.

I said "you can't film this.
This is too horrible.

The audience
won't want to see this."

And luckily
he didn't stop filming.

One day later,
the family had hardly moved.

They appeared to be resting.

The calf was sheltering
beneath echo.

He was still crippled,

but he was also
still trying to rise.

This was a special baby.

It was only when echo's new calf
was standing properly

they could see
what a big calf he was.

He couldn't move at all
in the womb, and so --

and so -- and that happens

in horses, where the female

is disproportionately smaller
than the stallion.

But it taught us a lot
about echo, didn't it?

It taught us a lot about enid.

It was just remarkable,
her patience.

She never looked flustered.

Enid was right there
all the time,

and, no, it was
extraordinary behavior.

Cynthia and MARTYN expected

the three-day-long struggle
to have exhausted the young calf

but ELY amazed them
with his determination.

He just wouldn't give up.

And his reward
was his first meal.

Now we don't know
where he is.

He's gone off -- he's gone off
to be independent.

He went off in 2000 --

was the last time we saw him,
wasn't it?

So he could have gone off
to another bull area

and NoT come back,

or he could potentially come
back as a much older male.

Oh, yeah, he could.

Echo's loyalty and perseverance

had helped save her son.

It was an intimate glimpse

into the caring world
of echo's family.

And over the coming years
she would give us many more.

As echo followed the paths
to food and water

she had learned from her mother,

she and enid showed us
how helpless youngsters

are protected and educated
by mothers...

An d babysitting sisters.

AMBOSELI is a special place.

Rain on kilimanjaro usually
waters it all year long.

Underground rivers

reach out into the plain,

where freshwater springs
form welcoming swamps,

drawing animals in

to bathe and drink each day.

But when little rain falls
on the plain itself,

little grass grows,

and without grazing,

the elephants go hungry.

Six weeks after echo's death,
the lack of rain

for five months
is taking its toll.

In two previous droughts,

echo had shown her daughters
and their offspring

where to eat and drink
in difficult times.

Echo's 39-strong family

now splits into two.

Echo's sister ella

and eight others
have gone off alone.

Cynthia and the women
of the AMBOSELI trust

try to keep track of the ones
that stay behind.

Echo's remaining family members

are following the route
she taught them,

but the drought is lasting
longer than anyone can remember.

Many of the grazing animals
weaken and die.

Only the toughest
will survive this drought.

There is growing concern

for echo's daughter enid.

She was especially close to
her mother for all her 27 years.

Now she's abandoned her sisters

to haunt the place
where echo lies.

Poor enid,

she's completely by herself

with just her two calves.

And every day she goes back
into the area of the fence

where echo's carcass is.

And these days she's the only
one who goes back in there.

And I suspect she just
is still so loyal

to echo and echo's routine,

that she's --
she's NoT changed.

All -- the whole family is
broken up into small subgroups,

but ENID'S really

completely on her own,

and I just feel
so sorry for her.

She's obviously still...

Very, very traumatized

by losing echo.

I think...

It's going to take a long time
for her to recover, if ever.

ENID'S reluctance
to move is endangering her calf.

The thing is
that a calf this age

should be eating quite
a bit of grass and food,

and there really just is nothing
for her to eat.

NoT all animals are
short of food in the drought.

Those that prey on others
can find plenty of meat.

Sorry, fella.

It's a young buffalo

who seems to be
on his last legs.

It's NoT just the elephants,
it's everything.

Well, everything that eats grass
is suffering terribly.

What's so frustrating is
there's nothing we can do.

Good grass
is also vital

to the MAASAI around AMBOSELI.

Their lives revolve around
their cattle and goats.

If the drought continues,

they will bring their herds
into the park for water,

and clash with the elephants.

Trouble lies ahead.

For cynthia and MARTYN,
the question is,

has the drought further
fragmented echo's family,

or has a new leader emerged?

Look at EUDORA

acting really matriarchal.

She's leading her family.

Now elaine is

one of the best
and most ardent babysitters

of all the females
of the e.B. --

sh e loves babies,

and she left her own mother

just to come and spend time
with this baby.

See, she's protecting her.

Hi, there! How are you?

How are you?

Oh, silly, silly...

Bit of
a play-trumpet that one.

Yeah, a little bit.

She's getting excited, look!

Theoretically
EUDORA should lead the others,

because she's older than enid,
say, who's only 27 --

she's 1O years older.

But then she's NoT
as closely related

to echo's
immediate daughters as...

So it may all split into three,

with enid and eliot
going in one,

making one family.

It's like
she's listening to you.

I know, I know she is.

Hello, EUDORA, hello.

It's okay -- I know there's
funny people in the car.

But it's okay.

I was really worried
she was going to die,

because she went off
by herself.

EUDORA?
Oh, yeah.

But I think she's better now.

But she's still painfully thin.

I'm sorry EUDORA -- I know it's
been a terrible time, hasn't it?

And there's your baby,
there's your baby,

your big baby.

L-ll, ESSIEN.

Going to come see us?

Do you remember us?

You remember this car.

But smelly people are in here
today, aren't they?

Over the years
MARTYN and his camera car

became a familiar sight
to echo's family.

Filming and talking to them
for thousands of hours

helped develop
a close relationship.

This elephant coming up
behind me now

is eliot, another one of
echo's daughters.

She was, she's a lovely female

and when she was younger,
when she was an adolescent,

she always used to come right up
to the car like this,

and we had dents on
the land rover with her tusks.

Look she's almost touching --

ooh, she's touching
the camera now.

Eliot, eliot, eliot...

It's NoT very clever,
it's a very expensive camera.

It's all right.

And she, ever since she was
quite young,

as an adolescent, she was always
leading the family,

even though
echo was still alive.

She's a bit of leader.

So it will be interesting to see
now what happens with echo gone.

And this elephant that's just
passing me here is ebony.

I'm particularly fond of ebony,

because I filmed her being born
14 years ago.

L-ll, ebony.

The time was fast approaching

for echo to give birth again.

It was 21 1/2 months
since she had mated,

and she looked absolutely huge.

As usual,

most of the elephants

were moving away from the swamp
for the night.

Just after sunset,
echo went into labor.

She was clearly having
strong contractions.

She had given birth to
at least five other calves,

but after the near-tragic birth
of ELY with his crippled legs,

cynthia and MARTYN
didn't know what to expect.

They were ready for another
all-night vigil.

Having seen
only three other births,

cynthia was determined to be
present at this one.

So can you remember
where it was?

It was just out
from that little row of palms.

And it was an open --

I think it was that pan
over there.

Yep, I think this is
roughly where it was.

Yeah, I think so.

The rest of echo's family

became excited as well,
and quickly converged on her.

A curtain of legs
suddenly swung back

to reveal the new baby.

The three-ton mother caressed
her baby tenderly with her foot.

The new calf
was unusually strong,

but the birth fluids
made the ground slippery.

It was very difficult for her
to get to her feet.

She kept on
trying to stand up,

and then she just up-ended,
didn't she? It was very funny.

They were streaming
with temporal glands

and they were lifting their
heads and going "WHOO!"

Remember that?
Like ella, ella.

Ella was amazing --
and EUDORA.

I remember EUDORA as well.

Echo gently pushed
her daughter enid away

to give her new calf
the space it needed.

The young female
sucked her trunk

like a baby sucking its thumb.

Ebony, echo's new calf,

turned out to be
a real character.

She was a joy to film

and extremely playful
with MARTYN.

His camera car was one of
the first things she saw,

and she behaved as if it were
one of the family.

So every day
we went out,

she would then come running up
and greet us.

Run, run to the car!

And she hit her head one day
on my camera mount.

No,
quite frequently!

She would come and butt

the side of the car.

And you can
still see, at age 14,

a little bump
on her forehead.

I feel guilty
every time I see that.

Ebony was always
getting into scrapes.

Once, to everyone's amazement
and disbelief,

she was actually kidnapped.

Echo was driven off
by another family's matriarch,

leaving ebony captive

behind the strangers' legs.

Kidnapping is a rare occurrence

and had never
been filmed before.

Kidnapping isn't about
wanting to have the baby.

It's about saying,
"we can take your baby

and you'd better just understand
that we're the dominant family."

What happened next
was extraordinary.

Echo gathered
her family's big females.

Together they plowed into
the kidnappers.

Echo's aim
was to recover her daughter.

Her plan showed forethought

and the ability
to inspire teamwork.

Finally, she led ebony away,

now flanked by
members of her family.

Echo's daughter was rescued,
and safe once again.

Four years before the drought,
ebony became a mother herself.

But the lack of food has killed
both her calves,

one only a few months old.

Yes, she was 11
when she had her first calf,

and then she successfully
raised him,

which is good for
an 11-year-old.

And then she had another calf

and that one died
in the drought,

and then LI1TLE ETIENNE
died, too.

In this drought...
That's a shame.

Very, very sad.

And she'd been a good mother,
it wasn't her fault.

No, it wasn't.
She'll have another one.

Yeah, she's only 15 now,

so she'll -- she can have
many more calves,

but it's a shame
her first two have gone.

Over the last th REE years

AMBOSELI'S droughts
have been worsening.

Ebony's calves will NoT be
the only losses.

Young elephants need more than
dried-up roots to sustain them.

But their mothers can barely
feed themselves.

And the most costly deaths

are those of
older, experienced females.

Twenty AMBOSELI matriarchs
will die.

Each such death
puts an entire family at risk.

As cynthia searches for
echo's family,

a report comes in that a mature
female elephant is down.

Cynthia fears it could be
echo's missing sister, ella,

the next in line to take over
echo's position as matriarch.

Wow...

Big tusks.

With relief
mixed with sadness,

she recognizes
the dying elephant

as bess of the b-b family.

No, she's NoT old, but she's got
big tusks for a female.

Right now we are coming across
them every day.

Sometimes two, th REE.

They are dying from the drought,

and also from poaching.

The drawn-out death
of an elephant

from natural causes
is distressing.

It's worse still
when elephants die from wounds

inflicted by humans.

The MAASAI elders remember
a severe drought in 1961,

when they lost
almost all their cattle.

This famine
is far more destructive.

Water is becoming scarce
outside AMBOSELI.

Conflicts at water holes
are worsening.

Clashes between

young male elephants
and cattle-herders

at water holes
are leading to SPEARINGS.

Little ELY, his crippled legs
fully recovered,

nearly died in one such incident
when he was only seven.

A MAASAI spear
lodged in his back.

With the help of
the AMBOSELI vets,

ELY recovered.

He tested his growing strength
in the family

and enjoyed their warmth
and affection until he was 10.

Then, like the other young males
from echo's family before him,

he left to join other bulls.

He returned from time to time
for a few months,

then he disappeared.

A few years after
the attack on ELY,

echo's eldest daughter, erin,
was also speared,

high in the shoulder.

Email, her 18-month-old son,
depended on her for vital milk.

Here echo showed her true
strength of character.

Her 34-year-old daughter

was in serious trouble --
blood poisoning

flooded through her body.

Email's suckling
caused erin agony.

MARTYN followed events closely.

As ERIN'S suffering grew worse
in front of his eyes,

he became more and more
deeply involved.

Now, because it was
inflicted by people,

she was treated by
the kenya wildlife service vets,

but she became
more and more sick,

and less and less mobile.

The infection was
spreading down her leg.

She found it increasingly
painful to walk.

Echo had to balance her grandson
email's survival

and her daughter
ERIN'S suffering

against the needs of
the rest of the family.

Echo during this period
was remarkable,

because erin was unable to move
very far at all,

and we know that echo didn't go

more than about
a kilometer and a half,

two kilometers,
away from her the whole time.

So she basically did a circle
around erin.

And one of the most touching
moments I remember

was echo came back
and rejoined erin,

and they had this wonderful
greeting ceremony.

The two of them
lifted their heads

and they clanked
their tusks together.

It's a very strong greeting

between very closely
related individuals.

And that was
an amazing moment to see.

But she wouldn't leave erin,
she wouldn't leave her.

It's hard to know what th ese
elephants are thinking.

It's trying to work out
exactly what is going on,

and we can only use
our human experiences

to try and work that out,

but the fact that
she didn't leave

more than about two kilometers

and came back regularly
to check her

just shows an extraordinary
mother-daughter bond.

We can only imagine
what it meant to erin

to have her mother
express her love.

This intense loyalty
and deep caring

makes elephants so special.

As for email, no other male
orphaned under the age of two

had ever survived here.

Echo had to
take the young calf away

to find food he could manage.

This meant she would never see
her daughter alive again.

But echo's young grandson
might survive.

At least she's, uh...

She's NoT in pain anymore.

I never...Get used to this.

I've known erin
since she was four years old.

So...

I guess it's like
losing a friend.

Certainly going to be...

It'll be devastating
for the family.

They are all going to

feel the loss tremendously,

and the calf 1s only
2O months old,

so, um...

I'm NoT sure he's going to
make it or NoT.

Echo's actions
did save her grandson email.

Two weeks later,

echo returned to the place where
she had last seen her daughter.

Elephants react strongly to

the carcasses of
other elephants.

It certainly seemed that

echo knew these were
her daughter's bones.

But what was she thinking?

Did she grieve?

It was as if she were
trying to understand

what had happened.

Echo had been forced to abandon
her daughter

for the sake of her grandson
and the rest of her family.

Soon the elephants
may no longer go hungry.

After th REE years, the drought
is finally drawing to an end.

The lessons echo passed on

kept 34 of her family alive --

NoT one of the family's
valuable adults died

in AMBOSELI'S
worst recorded drought.

That is a remarkable
achievement,

and echo's greatest legacy.

Elephants that scattered

to search for food outside
the park return.

Among them
is echo's sister ella.

She has put echo's teachings

into practice -- she's saved
all eight of her charges.

Echo's other relations
run to greet her.

Ella is the natural leader
of the family,

an d cynthia believes

her return is a sign
the family will flourish again.

Looking strong and healthy
is the orphan email,

who so nearly starved to death

when his mother died, but was
saved by echo's wise actions.

As the women
of the AMBOSELI trust

observe the family,

great bull elephants
come to court the females.

The rains bring on celebrations
and mating.

The females that lost calves

will come into season again.

There will soon be new brothers
and sisters for the youngsters.

Among the hundreds
that congregate

in the shadow of kilimanjaro,
a distant figure

puzzles the women of the trust.

An adult male who, for once,
they cannot instantly identify,

yet there is something familiar
about him.

His back bears the scars
of an old wound.

To their delight, the women
recognize an old friend.

Almost 2O years ago
their hearts went out to him

as a brave little newborn.

It 1s echo's son, ELY.

For th REE days
he battled his crippled legs

to get to his feet.

Now his determination
has seen him through

81/ 2 years
away from the family.

He must still remember

the time he was speared
before leaving AMBOSELI,

but it has NoT stopped him
returning.

Searching around

the hundreds of elephants
about him,

he finds his family.

NoT everyone he left is here.

He is too late to touch tusks
with his mother.

For him and others
who loved her,

her bones keep her alive.

Well, I've seen
the carcass

many, many times,
but it still makes me sad,

especially seeing the key things

that made her echo --

like the knobbly bits
on her head,

and the knobbly bits
on her back.

This still says echo to me,
it doesn't say carcass.

What I loved about her

was the way she walked.

She had this wonderful,
swinging walk.

And to think we are never going
to see that again,

that's what hurts.

Hmm...

AWw!

"From your friends,
beloved echo."

That was very sweet.

She was a special elephant,
there's no doubt about it.

She was just a lovely being.

She gave us a lot of joy

and she filled us with wonder.

Echo lives on

in the wisdom she has passed on
to her sons and daughters --

an enduring gift,

which they in turn will pass on
to generations to come.