Lopono - the ragged eared giraffe

 Lopono

There’s a giraffe at Loisaba who is instantly recognisable by anyone who comes across him. He has ragged-ears and he has lost the end of his tail. The guides and researchers all call him Lopono, which means ‘notched-ears’ and everyone looks out for him. Somehow it is his dishevelled look and beguiling eyes that make everyone so fond of him.

It’s tempting to make up stories about how he lost his tail and tore his ears – some fortunate escape from the clutches of a lion, or a heroic fight with another giraffe perhaps. Sadly, the real story involves humans. In 2016, in the run up to the elections, there was a lot of unrest in the pastoralist communities – exacerbated by severe drought conditions and rabble-rousing by politicians. In some areas there were invasions of land by tribes upon other tribes as people sought to find grazing or to grab land wholesale. Poor Lopono, like other wildlife, was a victim of spite, and although he wasn’t killed, he was castrated, his ears notched like a cow, and the end of his tail was taken. It’s hard to get to the bottom of exactly who dunnit, but it’s no good raking up old wounds and fortunately Lopono lived to tell the tale.

Credit: Olelarpei Lexson Kasintere

Since then he has lived a quiet and necessarily celibate life at Loisaba although he can come and go as he pleases and sometimes visits Mpala and other surrounding conservancies. The castration has changed his physical appearance because his ossicles (the giraffe equivalent of horns) resemble those of a female rather than a bull.

He is not lonely, however, since there are many giraffe in Loisaba which live in loosely bound herds, often inter-mingled with zebra and impala. Standing at almost 18 foot tall, he can reach the best leaves on the tree and keep a good eye on what’s happening around him. Approached by a truck, he stands sentinel and unblinking, not too afraid to stand his ground and wait to see what happens.

All of the giraffes are being monitored by Twiga Walinzi – Giraffe Guards, an organisation funded by San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance to safeguard the future of the reticulated giraffes which are now on the endangered list. The Rothschild giraffe is on the critically endangered list (they’re calling it the silent extinction) – and it is imperative that the reticulated giraffe (otherwise known as the Somali Giraffe) does not head in the same direction. It is difficult to understand why a creature that poses no threat to the livelihood of the pastoralist communities should be at risk, however habitat loss, fragmentation, and land degradation have seen their numbers decline by 70% in the last twenty years from 36,000 to less than 9,000. Obviously, Lopono will not be able to contribute to their numbers.

Credit: Olelarpei Kasintere

Researcher Ambrose Letoluia has connected us to his good friend and colleague, Olelarpei Kasintere (known as Lexson), a Laikipiak Maasai, who works as a Research Assistant for the Walinzi Project. It’s fair to say that he is mad about giraffes! Some of them have been collared (around one of their ossicles) so that they can be tracked and all of them are identifiable from their unique markings – Lopono has an H shape on his shoulder – just in case he doesn’t recognise him! Hopefully he will be keeping us in touch with Lopono’s movements.