Mutiara, which means pearl in the Indonesian language, was collared in February 2019 and is part of Anna’s core family group.
Mutiara (wearing the GPS collar at the front) traveling with her herd
Their herd is made up of about 30 elephants and they share much of their time and home range with Ginting, Indah, and (to a lesser extent) with Cinta. There are several babies and juveniles of all ages in the herd indicating healthy natural population growth.
Mutiara and Ginting (wearing GPS collars) with other herd members including babies
After Indah's herd moved across the corridor road using the Manggatal River riparian area, Mutiara and her herd were observed joining Indah's herd movement to also move across the corridor road using the same connecting patch. This movement trend (across the corridor road) is a unique natural movement behavior that is performed periodically by the Sumatran elephant sub-group since being observed using GPS collars in 2012. However, since 2019, this natural movement behavior has not been seen by these herds and only by young dispersal bulls. The current natural migration of elephants to the southern part of the corridor road is a challenge for our Elephant and Conservation Monitoring teams. It is also a good indicator that the Manggatal river area as a connecting patch is relatively well maintained for elephant habitat. Along with the Mutiara’s herd movement, our teams also observed two individual young dispersal bull elephants following this big female-dominated group.
This video shows Mutiara, Ginting and other elephants foraging and playing in a small river in the Bukit Tigapuluh Ecosystem.
Thank you to our Mutiara adopters for helping to keep her adn her herd safe and protected in the Bukit Tigapuluh Ecosystem.
(Program run by Ministry of Environment and Forestry and Frankfurt Zoological Society).