Elephants Return to South Africa


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JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) -- Elephants are back in South Africa's semi-arid Karoo region for the first time in more than 150 years, adding new life to a harsh environment that saw much of its large wildlife exterminated long ago.

The family group of 12 elephants was relocated from South Africa's Kruger National Park to Kuzuko, a 14,500 hectare nature reserve on the Karoo's southern boundary.

"They were released this morning and everything went well," Megan Bradfield, an ecologist with South African National Parks, told Reuters on Wednesday.

Two bulls from the adjoining Addo Elephant National Park, which lies just south of the Karoo, will join them later in June to ensure a healthy genetic mix.

Like rhino and other big Karoo game, elephants were long since hunted out by white settlers who mostly took to sheep farming in the dry and inhospitable terrain.

Scientists say elephants have not graced the Karoo -- a vast semi-arid region famed for its haunting landscapes and big skies -- for at least 150 years.

source:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/06/10...reut/index.html

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