Rachel Baumgart
2/20/25
Making a Difference for Wildlife
What I'm Reading About
Today, I’m learning about Dominique Gonçalves and how she’s helping restore human-elephant coexistence in Mozambique. Dominique is one of the leading figures in this vital program. She is also the manager of the park’s Elephant Ecology Project, where she tracks nearly 500 African elephants that roam the park and monitors human-elephant conflict in the buffer zone surrounding it.
Struggles of the Elephants
At certain times of the year, resources become especially scarce, bringing elephants and people into conflict. Hungry elephants sometimes move into human croplands to feed, which can lead to the destruction of people’s gardens. “It is tough for a father to see all his work destroyed in one night,” Dominique says.
Elephants once freely roamed Gorongosa and the surrounding area with minimal human interference. However, the 15-year civil war in Mozambique devastated both human and animal populations. During the war, over one million people died, and elephants were slaughtered for food. Their numbers dropped from over 2,500 in 1972 to about 300 three decades later.
Despite this troubled history, elephants now peacefully coexist with humans. “Coexistence takes time. It takes people to understand, and it also takes elephants to understand,” Dominique says.
Gorongosa National Park
Gorongosa National Park spans over 4,000 square kilometers at the southern end of the Great Rift Valley, in the heart of Mozambique. It is a complex ecosystem, home to an extraordinary diversity of plants and animals. The park has adopted a modern conservation model that balances the needs of both wildlife and people through conservation, community engagement, scientific research, and sustainable tourism.
Hello Rachel, I am Mackenzie! I was drawn to read your post from the enticing photo of an elephant. I am a very big animal lover and because of this I enjoyed every second of reading your blog. I appreciate you taking the time to teach others about your knowledge on Dominique Gonçalves and her work with elephants. I did not know about her and I am glad to learn the work she does with Gorongosa National Park through conservation efforts. Something that really stood out to me from your article was the term "coexistence". Coexistence is such an important concept, and it is so beneficial to communities and how they run. Being able to live side by side with people or animals in harmony, even if they come from different places, cultures, or belief systems. Even if they are a different species than us! I am curious to learn of more places where animals and people coexist, besides in houses with pets of course! Thank you for your enlightening post.
ReplyDelete