After poaching shattered her family in Kenya, one elephant was adopted by another herd

After poaching shattered her family in Kenya, one elephant was adopted by another herd documents how Ringlet, an elephant in Kenya’s Samburu ecosystem, survived a rare cross-family adoption after a poaching crisis. Save the Elephants reported that Ringlet lost her family line during the 2009-2012 poaching period when her relatives were killed, leaving her without her usual group. Researchers then observed her gradually integrating into a different family, joining the Artists 2 herd. The bond reportedly grew after Ringlet’s mother died when she was 16, and it became “almost impossible to tell apart” her from the new family as she merged into the group. Ringlet has since had six calves, including two adult males that dispersed. The account also notes that her older brother Sarara was later killed in human-elephant conflict. The adoption was documented through more than a decade of field observations and shared via Save the Elephants’ “Meet the Elephants” film series.