Name an elephant and follow her real journey

An African elephant as a die-cut album sticker (species illustration).

Name an elephant — and follow her real journey through Kruger

€19,90

Certificate + 30-day journey, delivered in a minute

The elephant's name

Choose it now Let them choose it

Up to 20 letters. You will see it on the map and on the certificate.

They give her a name the first time they open the journey.

Who is it for?Their first name and your message, optional

Recipient's first name

Your message (optional)

A real journey recorded in 2008, replayed one day at a time. Not live tracking.

Delivery in 3–5 days with tracking.

Give a name to a real African elephant and follow, day by day, her 210 km route in and around Kruger National Park in the dry season, recorded by scientists.

A new day every evening for 30 days. Every day already opened stays visible.

What arrives and when

Digital
A link and a printable PDF certificate, by email in a minute. Or on the date you choose, with your message.
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The journey
It starts when the recipient opens it: one new day of the route every day for 30 days. Every day already unlocked stays visible. Access for 12 months.

Day 1 / 30

recorded 13 June 2008

The dry season

June 2008, Kruger National Park, South Africa. It is the dry southern winter, and an adult female elephant is about 11 km from Phabeni Gate. For ten months she has worn a GPS collar, part of a study of how elephants cope with heat and find water, and it records her position every half hour. Female elephants stay in family herds, so she is probably not alone, though the collar can only speak for her. The scientists know her as AM108. For you, she is Thandi.

The real first chapter of this journey, shown with the sample name Thandi.

The story of this journey

In June 2008 an adult female elephant in Kruger National Park, South Africa, had been wearing a GPS collar for ten months, part of a study of how elephants cope with heat and find water. In 30 days her daily positions trace 210 km: a first week near Paul Kruger Gate, then north past Skukuza and Nhlanguleni to the country around Orpen. Every point on your 30-day map is a real position, recorded on that day.

days: 30
km on the map: 210
km at her furthest: 78
recorded in: 2008

Where this journey comes from

Data: Slotow R, Thaker M, Vanak AT (2019), Data from: Fine-scale tracking of ambient temperature and movement reveals shuttling behavior of elephants to water, Movebank Data Repository, doi 10.5441/001/1.403h24q5, licence CC0. Scientific ID: AM108.

The name you choose is a gift name: the scientists know this elephant as AM108, and other people may follow the same journey under other names.

The whole journey +€9,90

265 days and 1,151 km on the map, into the rainy season, south again towards Paul Kruger Gate and back. 257 days with a recorded position, 8 estimated and drawn as a dotted line.

See the whole journey

Questions

No. It's a real journey recorded by scientists (2018 for the turtle, 2019 for the penguin, 2008 for the elephant, 2004 for the polar bear), replayed for you one day at a time. Every recorded point is real; estimated days are marked and drawn with a dotted line.

We join one recorded position per day with a straight line, the same line you see on your map. Her real path was longer: all her recorded positions in these 30 days add up to at least 358 km.

No one owns a wild animal. The name is a gift name for the journey: it appears on your certificate and on your map. Other people may follow the same journey with other names.

Probably not: female elephants stay in family herds. But the collar records only her, so the data can't say who was with her.

We don't know. The recording stops in March 2009, and the data doesn't say what came after.

MapMyPet is a gift shop, not a charity: your purchase pays for the gift. The data comes from open scientific studies, credited on every page.

When the recipient opens it. A gift opened at Christmas starts at Christmas, from day 1.

No: a link and a browser. The certificate can be printed.

12 months from activation; the certificate is yours to keep.