en | nl | th

Voor een toekomst voor olifanten

Olifanten worden met uitsterven bedreigd. Hun leefgebied verdwijnt in een alarmerend tempo, door toedoen van mensen. Olifanten moeten daarom buiten beschermde gebieden op zoek naar voedsel en water. Zo ontstaan er meer en meer conflicten tussen olifanten en mensen. Als de olifant verdwijnt, verliezen we een prachtige diersoort, die zo cruciaal is voor onze natuur en ecosysteem. 

Alles op alles voor duurzame verandering!

Bring the Elephant Home zet alles op alles voor de overlevingskans van olifanten. Onze natuurbeschermingsprojecten starten bij de lokale gemeenschap. We streven naar duurzaam positieve verandering, naar een wereld waar mens en olifant in harmonie naast elkaar kunnen leven. Sluit je aan bij de missie van Bring the Elephant Home!

Antoinette van de Water, oprichter BTEH

Help je mee?

Volg het laatste nieuws, volg onze projecten. Heb je interesse om mee te doen? Bekijk de vele verschillende mogelijkheden om te bij te dragen als donateur en/of vrijwilliger! Alvast veel dank!

Bring The Elephant Home is een door het CBF erkend goed doel en is een Algemeen Nut Beogende Instelling. Ook is BTEH lid van GlobeGuards.

Maak kennis met het team

Ons team is wereldwijd actief, specifiek in Thailand, Zuidelijk Afrika, België en Nederland. Maak kennis met het BTEH-team!

Bekijk meer projecten ›

Laatste nieuws

Vrijwilliger in Zuid-Afrika voor Bring The Elephant Home

Lees meer

Vrijwilliger olifantenonderzoek Zuid-Afrika: programma 5 tot en met 14 maart 2024

Lees meer

Meerjaren Beleidsplan 2023-2027

Lees meer

Bekijk meer nieuws ›

Nieuwste video

Bekijk meer video's ›

Volg ons op Instagram

  • Mae Tuen Wildlife Sanctuary covers an area of more than 1,173 km2. It features a diverse topography with high and rugged mountains, providing a home to Asian elephants. We recently found wild elephant evidence recordings at elevation of 1,200m above sea level. Wild elephants utilize the landscape seasonally. Along the trails, we found elephant dung and footprints, providing insights into habitat utilization of wild elephant in Mae-Tuen WS. • In addition to its rich biodiversity, the sanctuary is a culturally significant area with ethnic communities. The region has a long history of cultural diversity. • Our recent initiative involves setting up camera traps to survey the wild elephant populations in Mae Tuen WS. • Jor Nu (Jor means brother In Karen) also known as “Nhak-Rob” means “warrior” , has been a forest ranger in Mae Tuen Wildlife Sanctuary for several years. He has actively contributed to the research team by installing camera traps with dedication. • Every steps we take is accompanied by memories, laugh and unforgettable impressions. We remember that our footprint is always smaller than the Elephant’s. • Enjoy the adventure! • Big thank you to the research team, MaeTuen WS Rangers and the local people we met along the journey. You are all super awesome!
  • HOT OFF THE PRESS! Our new publication titled “Twisting collars on male elephants in shrub terrain: animal welfare considerations for researchers, managers and manufacturers” has been published in Volume 24 of Pachyderm. This paper explores a rare phenomenon we encountered of elephant tracking collars twisting on bull elephants in dense shrub terrain in South Africa. This is the first publication out from BTEH researcher Brooke Friswold’s PhD and carries significance in exploring, understanding and improving elephant tracking and research methods. It is critical as researchers that we share our experiences and challenges in research so that we can continue to improve elephant wellbeing in research and management scenarios. You can check out the paper through the link in our bio. @thewildlifelady #elephantresearch #elephantresearcher #elephanttracking #elephantbehaviour #conservationmanagement #conservationresearch
  • Today Bring The Elephant Home presented our community-based conservation approach to a delegation from Vietnam at the headquarters of Kuiburi National Park. We’re so proud to see the community leaders presenting our coexistence projects to these high level stakeholders and inspire other people living with wild elephants in Asia 🌳🐘🌶️
  • Happy birthday Bring The Elephant Home! 🎉 We just turned 19! Nearly two decades of incredible moments with these majestic giants! Here’s to many more years of meaningful conservation! #BTEHbirthday 🥳 #ConservationJourney 🌍 #elephantconservation 🐘
  • Large animals have more cells, which, theoretically, would also cause them to develop cancer more often. However, this does not seem to be the case: elephants in particular are less likely to develop cancer than humans. But why? This might be related to elephants having as many as 20 copies of the gene that encodes the p53 protein. This protein essentially works like a copy editor: it checks genetic material as the cells multiply and helps secure correct crossovers. In a way, this protein thus helps prevent abnormal cell growth, and therewith cancer. Humans, but also other large animals, such as whales, only have one copy of this gene. The question now is... why do elephants have so many copies? A hypothesis referred to as " the hot testicle hypothesis" suggests that the answer may lay in their reproduction. For sperm cells especially, research has shown that high temperatures are detrimental. This has caused many species, including humans, to have their testicles grow partially outside of their body, to cool them down. Elephant testicles, however, are located inside their bodies - causing an increased temperature. It appears that the elephant’s testes may experience temperatures dangerously high for mammalian sperm production, even under normal body temperatures. Hence - the positioning of their testes may cause decreased success of reproduction. All of this may have in the past lead to elephants that developed multiple copies of the p53-encoding gene, having healthier sperm (since the protein caused there to be fewer wrong copies and such), and therewith a higher reproductive success. The latter would be evolutionary favourable. This, hypothesis, however, remains to be tested. #research #science #elephant #heat #reproduction #cancer #health #elephanthealth https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/elephants-giant-hot-testicles-might-be-the-reason-they-get-less-cancer
  • Many animals innovate to improve their access to resources, such as Japanese macaques washing the sand off potatoes. The ability to innovate can allow animals to adapt to changing environments, and research has shown that innovation varies between both species and individuals. Innovation could benefit animals living in human-dominated landscapes, finding ways to circumvent barriers (such as through forest fragmentation) and access (novel) food. In a recent study, the variability in innovation in wild Asian elephants was measured. The researchers used an experimental approach to study cognition in a wild population in Thailand, observing their interactions with a puzzle box that contained food items behind doors that needed to be opened by for instance sliding, pushing, or pulling. Results show that there were no clear differences in age or sex, but that persistence - the time that an elephant interacted with the box - and exploratory diversity, were associated with the success of opening doors. There was variation between individuals in overall innovation scores, part of which was explained by sub-adults being less likely to innovate than adults. As more and more animals face changing environments and anthropogenic landscapes, behavioural flexibility is an increasingly important strategy for navigating these landscapes, and to obtain alternative food sources. Understanding how such interactions develop is not only important for conservation management, but likewise to mitigate human-elephant conflict. #science #elephantconservation #elephantbehaviour #innovation #wildliferesearch #thailand #asianelephant #animalbehaviour #anthropogeniclandscapes Jacobson, A.L., Dechanupong, J., Horpiencharoen, W., Yindee, M. & Plotnik, J.M. (2023). Innovating to solve a novel puzzle: wild Asian elephants vary in their ability to problem solve. Animal Behaviour, 205: pp. 227-239.