National 29.7.2014 02.39 pm
Amanda Watson
With a sickening thud, the approximately 25-year-old elephant finally topples on to its side.
For nearly half an hour a helicopter from South African National Parks in the Kruger National park has been buzzing the elephant and finally, it is in a safe place to be darted.
Ten minutes later, the violent collision of the worlds largest land mammal with the planet is still not enough to shake the pink tufted dart containing the opiate M99 loose from the elephant’s rump.
“It is a bad day to be an elephant,” mutters a reporter.
As South African Nation Parks veterinarian Doctor Markus Hofmeyr runs up to the elephant – dubbed Nelson by the watching local and international media – to cover its eye with its ear, the helicopter used to corral Nelson lands.
It is not all bad news for Nelson however. Today his DNA profile will be added to the more than 50 000 samples of a variety of species on SANparks’ books.
His blood will also be used to study the effects of the opiate used to take him down, says Dr Peter Buss.
Holding up an instrument called an I-stat, Buss says it gives results in minutes, including blood gas, electrolyte, chemistry and hematology results. This has revolutionised how large animals are sedated, especially when it comes to rhino.
Not quite a tusker, the more than three-meter tall bull still has tusks big enough to cause serious damage to anything on the wrong side of him.
As with rhino, the skin behind an elephants ear is velvet soft, handy for snipping off a small piece for DNA. It is also a place where, incongruously, ticks seem to like living and feeding off the rich network of veins in the ears.
By pumping blood through the thumb sized veins and arteries, elephants are able to regulate their body temperature.
The veins are also handy for visiting veterinary students to measure pulse and draw blood.
Nelson has been lying on his side for nearly 15 minutes and it’s time to wake him up. The snores through his trunk – elephants can’t breathe through their mouths – are normal, Hofmeyr says.
And while the sedative takes about an hour to wear off, in a park full of predators it is not best idea to leave him dozing on the ground.
Hofmeyr injects the antidote into Nelson’s ear. It takes nearly two minutes to circulate around the boulder sized body before the elephant lifts its head.
It cannot stand easily, and has to rock itself before it can get its feet under its body and, like a ghost, disappears into the bush.
