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Rare 'Ghost Elephant' Sighting Comes with Grave Warning About the Species

Rare 'Ghost Elephant' Sighting Comes with Grave Warning About the Species

Yahoo14-06-2025

An elephant not seen for several years was captured on camera walking through a national park in Senegal
The "Ghost Elephant," named Ousmane, was considered to be one of five to 10 elephants left at Niokolo-Koba National Park in 2019
"Elephants are under immense pressure in West Africa. Only a few populations of the pachyderms survive in this region," an expert saidAn elusive elephant that hasn't been photographed in several years was recently caught on camera strolling through a national park in Senegal. This is the first time an elephant has been documented in the location since 2020.
In footage captured by a camera trap at Senegal's Niokolo-Koba National Park (PNNK), both the wild cat conservation organization Panthera and Senegal's National Parks Directorate (DPN) caught a glimpse of what is being called a "Ghost Elephant" — a name the African forest elephant has earned because of its infrequent appearances in Senegal.
The video marks the first time an African forest elephant has been photographed or filmed in the park in five years, and the first time the specific elephant in the clip — Ousmane, who was named after a park ranger — has been seen since 2019.
At the time, Ousmane was considered to be one of five to ten African forest elephants left at Niokolo-Koba, which used to house hundreds of elephants before the "devastating impacts of poaching and habitat loss," according to the organizations.
In the footage, Ousmane walks in the dark, gets an up-close glimpse at the camera set-up, and continues on.
As the World Wildlife Fund points out, the African forest elephant was declared Critically Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2021.
"Elephants are under immense pressure in West Africa. Only a few populations of the pachyderms survive in this region," Philipp Henschel, west and central regional director of Panthera, said in a statement to Newsweek. "Niokolo-Koba National Park, where this individual was filmed, is the last area in Senegal where this endangered species survives."
As Henschel told the outlet, Panthera and the DPN had "gradually increased the protection" of Niokolo-Koba National Park since their joint park support program launched in 2017.
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Additional successes for the program include a significant increase in the West African lion population, which has doubled in the park since Panthera and the National Parks Directorate began working on initiatives.
As for the "Ghost Elephant," there are now organized surveys to "assess if the elephant we recently filmed is the sole survivor in the park and therefore in Senegal," Henschel told Newsweek.
"If this was found to be the case, we will assess the feasibility of translocating a herd of females into the park, so as to found a new breeding elephant population in Senegal."
Read the original article on People

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These Archive Photos Honour The Windrush Generation's Legacy Of Style
These Archive Photos Honour The Windrush Generation's Legacy Of Style

Refinery29

timea day ago

  • Refinery29

These Archive Photos Honour The Windrush Generation's Legacy Of Style

My grandfather, originally from Barbados, passed away when I was 2. It didn't leave much time to get to know him outside of family stories, but elders in my community would tell me that they could see him – a very tall man whose suits were always razor sharp — in me. 'Look, she!' they would laugh in patois as I walked past. 'She is Mr Blackett, himself.' I recently began searching through old photographs of my grandparents — they have all 'gone to glory' now, as they would say — and marvelled at their elegant and immaculate presentation. My grandmother on my mother's side, originally from Antigua, passed away earlier this year. She was a woman known for her faith, a powerful voice that turned everyone's heads in church, but also for her style. She was known to wear a fascinator with a long matching dress on an average Wednesday. Like many Caribbean people who migrated to this country in the 50s and 60s, my grandmother's adjustment to the UK wasn't easy. But she took extra special pride in her appearance — a value that was passed down to my entire family. I've been thinking a lot about the legacy of style left behind by this generation. It's soon Windrush Day (June 22), and more than 75 years ago, the first Caribbean migrants arrived on the HMT Empire Windrush in 1948. It's said there were 1027 passengers on board hailing from Jamaica, Trinidad, St Lucia, Grenada, and Barbados. Many of those who arrived had served in the British armed forces during the war and were recognised as citizens of the United Kingdom — part of the 'Empire'. As they arrived in England, hopeful for the life and opportunities promised by the 'Mother Country', many wore their Sunday Best as they traversed to this new frontier. It's said that Caribbean migrants received a pamphlet ahead of going to Britain, documenting how they should dress for the cold (freezing weather my grandma would describe as 'wicked!'). Yet, as was reported in The Thurrock Gazette in 1948, they arrived via the Empire Windrush 'Dressed in an odd assortment of clothes, many wearing ties of dazzling designs.' ' The origins of the Black British aesthetic — the fusing of Caribbean and African influences in British fashion, music and culture — arguably began here. ' You may have seen the incredible photos from this arrival and the other ships that followed over those years: Caribbean men, like my grandfather, in tailored suits, wide-brimmed hats and Fedoras, overcoats, and shined-up shoes. Women, a picture of sophistication, in frilled blouses, dresses, and bold jewellery. In many ways, these photos capture the start of the Caribbean's influence on British culture. The origins of the Black British aesthetic — the fusing of Caribbean and African influences in British fashion, music and culture — arguably began here. Today, we continue to see echoes of that original elegance in contemporary fashion. Cast your mind back to May, when Vogue unveiled the theme for the 2025 MET Gala, fashion's biggest night of the year: ​​' Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.' With its chair of stylish Black men — Colman Domingo, A$AP Rocky, Pharrell Williams, and Lewis Hamilton — the event successfully introduced the fashion world to Black Dandyism. As Unbothered writer Taryn Finley explained at the time, a Dandy is, by its official definition, 'a man unduly devoted to style, neatness, and fashion…' However, during the transatlantic slave trade, 'enslavers dressed Black people in extravagant clothing and paraded them around, calling them 'luxury slaves.' It was used as a dehumanising form of minstrelsy that further objectified Black men.' Taryn explained that as time went on, Black people reclaimed Black dandyism. The Met Gala intended to illustrate this reclamation, and it largely achieved this. As celebrities stepped out in flamboyant suits, exaggerated wide-brimmed hats, perfectly rounded afros, prints and more in honour of the MET Gala's theme, my immediate thoughts went back to those photos taken on the Windrush ship (Lewis Hamilton's suit, made by Black British designer Grace Wales Bonner, paid a subtle homage in its small details). Though they may not have described their style by the same name, the Windrush generation also embodied the spirit of Black dandyism. The Sunday Best suits and tailoring (from my parents' accounts) gave them an unmistakable swagger that disrupted the common status quo of British fashion. They were seen, and this visibility formed part of the resistance. Mahoro Seward put it best for British Vogue back in April, 'Black contributions to Britain's sartorial canon are as extensive as the existence of Black communities on these isles, with dressing long serving as a crucial means of resisting against and rising above diminishing perceptions – and defiantly asserting an empowered, dignified sense of identity.' Indeed, for the Windrush generation and the generations that followed, dressing wasn't just about style but dignity in a time when they faced the ugliest sides of Britain; from Notting Hill slumlord Peter Rachman's discriminatory housing policies, race riots and rampant racism. Like the best of fashion, it can reflect a time and space — economic stability or instability, social unrest, a disillusionment in government, etc. In this case, by dressing with intention, Black men and women helped challenge dominant ideas about race; tailored clothing was a point of pride, in a time when your skin colour made you both visible and vulnerable. And so, they gave them something to look at. Now, where the injustices of the Windrush scandal — when Caribbean immigrants were wrongfully threatened with deportation and denied rightful citizenship in 2018 — are still felt, looking through these photos has felt like a balm. I am reminded that here in the UK, Black Brits continue to shape culture. Our legacy isn't just stitched into the seams of sharp suits and Sunday hats — it's woven into the very fabric of British culture.

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