ELEPHANTS JOIN TWITTER

Four tagged bull elephants in Laikipia, Central Kenya are now "tweeting" through the fingers of their human supporters using the hashtag #ElephantsLive.  Pioneered by the charity organization Space for Giants, the initiative is meant to educate people and raise awareness about elephant conservation.  "Our mission [is] to secure a future for the largest mammals on earth forever," reads the organization's website. "To be enjoyed by humanity forever, by ensuring that they have the space and security to live and move freely in the wild forever."

Each of the four elephants — Evgeny, Tyson, Carlos, and Kimani — has been endowed with their own distinct personalities on Twitter based on what handlers have noted about their behaviours.  “The tweets are factual in nature including their movement but also personal traits that we have picked up following them over time," noted organization worker Diana Vollmerhausen, who runs the @spaceforgiants Twitter account, to the Daily Dot. "It's amazing trying to put yourself into the head of an elephant, they all have their very own personalities!” 

The elephants also wear GPS collars, allowing scouts to keep tabs on their movements and tweet out updates based on where they are what they're doing.  Vollmerhausen, who runs the Twitter account from the U.K. with help from workers in Kenya, ensures that all tweets about the elephants' movements come at a 48-second delay "to keep the elephants safe from poachers."  "The GPS collars are primarily being used by Space for Giants’ community scouts in Kenya, who can access the data via a mobile phone app," she said. "It allows them to get a real-time window into the human-wildlife conflict situation, enabling timely management of any problems that arise."

While the account has just over 1,000 followers, attention from press and on social media has boosted the account's profile in recent days and many around the we are taking the time to congratulate Space for Giants on its initiative.

Read more and see samples of the elephants Tweets here -

http://www.cbc.ca/newsblogs/yourcommunity/2014/01/elephants-join-twitter-wearing-gps-collars.html?cmp=fbtl

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