The Secret Life of Elephants The Secret Life of Elephants

They care for friend and family like few other animals.

Like us, they feel emotion.

They may even be aware of their own mortality.

Yet, there's still so very much we don't know about elephants.

Here in Northern Kenya, a group called Save The Elephants

is making extraordinary discoveries about their lives.

The research team are facing some big challenges.

An elephant called Mountain Bull has been tracked

to the edge of farms and villages where he's set to face trouble.

A desperately injured calf looks like he may not survive.

A baby elephant, called Breeze, was born to the Winds family.

In her first few days of life, she was only just finding her feet.

We'll follow their dramatic stories and struggles to survive

alongside the team, as they reveal the Secret Life of Elephants.

The hills and plains of Samburu lie to the north of Kenya.

These wild lands support some of Africa's most spectacular wildlife.

They're also home to a very special population of elephants.

They all have names, and every detail of their lives is recorded

by the Save The Elephants team.

David Daballen co-ordinates the field research.

He's out looking for the youngest elephant in the reserve,

born to a family called the Winds.

This is Breeze.

David has known her since the very first day of her life.

At four months old, Breeze spends most of her time

playing with the other elephants in her close-knit family.

David is delighted with how she's doing.

I feel so happy when I see Breeze playing with all these calves,

given the fact a few months ago

she was still a really tiny baby.

She is enjoying all the company of her family at the moment,

and I'm very hopeful that she will make it all the way.

But the next few weeks will test her and her family to the limits.

The dry season lies ahead.

David knows that new babies like Breeze

can often die when times get hard.

So, for the next few weeks, he will keep a close watch on the herd.

The Save the Elephants team live alongside the elephants

at the camp in the heart of the reserve.

Their mission is to research and protect elephants,

to ensure they have a future in Africa.

The team was founded by Iain Douglas-Hamilton.

He's shared his life with elephants for over 40 years,

and his aim is to see the world from an elephant's point of view.

I'm just interested to try and get inside the head of an elephant

because, even after a lifetime of studying them,

I'm still learning so much.

Iain believes that to understand elephants,

the team must get to know them as individuals.

To the untrained eye elephants may look the same,

but to the researchers they are all unique characters.

I can recognise about...

600 elephants, individually.

They are so different.

One is tuskless, the other has massive tusks.

One is huge and the other one is tiny.

So, they're just as different as we are.

Cutting edge technology is also key to the team's discoveries.

Elephants are fitted with collars

and tracked by satellite from the camp.

Watch his movements.

This extraordinary insight into their lives

is helping to protect them.

Today, the plan is to fit a new collar to one of the elephants.

Iain is heading off to pick up an important member of the team.

While he's away there's another elephant to check on.

Saba Douglas-Hamilton is Iain's daughter.

She grew up in Africa, and has a lifelong passion for elephants.

The team monitor the wellbeing of every elephant here,

especially when they're in danger.

Three months ago a calf injured his leg,

and he couldn't keep up with his family.

His mother stuck with him, but the team doubted he would survive.

This morning their herd is back.

Saba and David need to see if the calf has made it.

I haven't seen the mother yet.

There she is, she's right over there.

But has the calf survived?

Hold on, there she is, look. That's the calf behind her.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

It's looking very well, full of life.

The calf is safely back with his family -

and he's walking almost normally.

Do you know, I wonder if he didn't fracture his leg or something.

It takes six weeks for a bone to heal.

The way that's healed back together, there's still quite a lump there.

We didn't think that calf would survive,

because over a period of time, he was on his own with his mother

and they really looked sad.

But, you know, when they are all back together, very happy,

and the calf was as strong as it could be.

That was just the happiest time.

We could say, "They're all back together."

The bonds between a mother and her calf are very strong,

and that's probably what saved his life.

She's stuck with him

through thick and thin and helped him wherever she could

and somehow, together,

they managed to get through.

The team's first mission has been a success,

but the next is set to be far more difficult.

Iain is back.

With him is Dr Stephen Chege, a vet from the Kenya Wildlife Service.

He's here to replace a broken radio collar

on an elephant called Anastasia.

It's going to bring back bad memories.

When she goes down, this family will defend her.

Three months ago, the same operation nearly ended in disaster.

Anastasia fell awkwardly and almost stopped breathing.

Her breathing is bad.

The team brought her round, but everyone was shaken up.

This time, the team know they must get it right.

If they can find out where the elephants go

outside the safety of the reserve, they can help protect them.

Anastasia's family are called the Royals -

50 animals who support and protect each other.

With so many united elephants,

this will be a tough challenge for the team.

'How far has she separated from the rest of the group?'

She is very in it, actually.

She is near the front group.

It's quite like a military operation.

We have to have total precision

and be in perfect communication with everybody else.

Running a darting operation is always an anxious time.

I'm always worried that something is going to go wrong,

either to the elephant or to the people.

Your biggest problem is the other elephants.

They are a very tight family and as soon as they see one of their

family members going down, the whole family is on the warpath.

Dr Chege has found a position

that will give him a clear shot with an anaesthetic dart.

Anastasia, and her young calf, are feeding to their right.

They mustn't spook her, or all will be lost.

-Very quiet, everybody.

-Yeah.

ELEPHANT TRUMPETS

That's a good shot.

The anaesthetic will take a few minutes to act.

The team can only hope that this time the operation goes to plan.

There's a problem.

Anastasia's family are moving in to protect her.

Things are looking a lot more difficult for the team.

Nearby, the Winds family, with little Breeze,

are leaving the river.

At the front is Harmattan, Breeze's mother.

She is the matriarch.

It's her job to keep the family safe and guide them to food and water.

The others always follow her lead.

All, that is, apart from one.

Buster, with a distinctive folded ear, is Breeze's older brother.

Since Breeze was born,

he hasn't been getting as much attention from his mother.

Like all young bulls, he likes to practise his fighting skills.

He thinks he knows better than to follow the herd...

but he's acting like an over-confident teenager,

and this could get him into trouble.

Back with the family, Breeze is learning some more basic lessons.

The adults are feeding up before the dry season takes hold

using trunks and feet.

It looks easy, but a trunk is made of over 40,000 muscles.

Learning to use it is a real challenge for a baby elephant.

Breeze is copying the adults and trying things out.

She is starting to get the general idea.

But, for now, it's much easier to go back to Harmattan for her milk.

With her first dry season just ahead,

she needs to build up her strength.

Back on the plains, the team have got problems.

Anastasia's family have sensed something is wrong.

Iain and the others quickly push the elephants away from her.

-You can come in, you can come in, Saba.

-'Coming.'

Gently, gently does it.

It's a tense moment...

but this time she falls in a good position.

She's down. Just block completely, come right into me. Right into me.

Anastasia's little calf is the last to leave her side.

The Royals are still close by.

The team manoeuvre the cars around Anastasia

to protect them while they work.

You block them. Saba, you can do some blocking.

It's important she isn't down long.

Water keeps her cool.

Just be careful in case they put their heads down and come.

The new collar is quickly fitted.

OK, that's all right.

The team are focused on their work...

but there's a problem.

The Royals are charging back to protect Anastasia.

Can you please get in the car?

Saba must carefully push back the herd

to protect the team working on the ground.

The collar is finally on.

OK, I think, guys, we should get her up.

Dr Chege gives the antidote.

Two minutes, she'll be up.

The team back off.

All they can do now is wait for Anastasia to come around.

When did you put the antidote in?

Yeah, there it goes.

Telling you, "I'm still there."

-That's the first sign.

-Yeah.

Anastasia's family come straight over to check she's OK.

This time, the operation has gone completely to plan.

It's a great moment for the team.

That's very good.

The family gently reassure Anastasia,

and her calf is back by her side.

Watching the reactions of the family,

it really helps you to understand the bonds that exist

between these animals.

They will always look after their babies, they'll defend each other,

they'll put themselves out on the front line

to protect those that they love.

The new collar will reveal where Anastasia goes.

This information will help protect all the elephants here.

The whole thing, in the long run, is going to be a question of space.

If there will be enough space or not for wild elephants to survive.

That's where our radio tracking is providing vital data.

In the reserve, the land is still green,

but the water level is dropping.

The Ewaso Ng'iro flows through the middle of the reserve.

The river and its surrounding lush vegetation

are a magnet for all the animals here.

Now the land is drying, the river will be a lifeline.

Already dozens of elephant families are arriving from drier areas.

They're all well known by the research team.

So, for them, it's like seeing old friends come back.

The herds all have names - the Native Americans, the Planets,

the Shakespeare Ladies, the Clouds, the Spice Girls.

There are now hundreds of elephants gathering in the reserve -

and following them in...

the bulls.

This male is called Plato.

He's moving from family to family

to see if any of the females are ready to mate.

There are other bulls moving into the reserve,

and Saba's checking up on them.

She's always been fascinated by bull elephants.

I love bull elephants,

just because there is no greater mammal

that walks the surface of the Earth.

When you're next to them you just feel so small and vulnerable.

They have this particular kind of walk

where they just hold themselves up high,

and their neck muscles are rippling with this extraordinary power,

and they're just streaming secretion from their temporal glands

and other parts of their body.

And they exude this particular odour which is very powerful.

It's like pure testosterone.

I know there are quite a lot of female elephant researchers

who kind of shiver in ecstasy when they smell it.

Am I one of them? Maybe...

And it's not just Saba.

All the elephant families are excited that the bulls are here.

With so many elephant families in the reserve

to see out the dry season,

the weeks ahead look set to be very interesting.

Back at camp, Iain is checking on Anastasia.

That's actually where the operation took place.

That's where we put the dart in.

The white dots are from her collar.

As soon as she was up,

the group moved off and they resumed their march.

Unlike the other elephants,

she's headed north, crossing out of the reserve.

-Isn't it interesting?

-Very, very interesting.

Data has revealed that elephants can walk hundreds of miles

in search of food and water -

but outside the safety of the reserve, they can run into trouble.

Mountain Bull is one of the team's collared elephants.

They've discovered he moves between two protected areas -

but the land between is populated.

This is a problem for him and the people who live there.

When Saba last saw him four months ago,

he was poised to move into the danger zone.

Now, there's a development.

What's the latest on Mountain Bull?

First of all, this is where you last saw him.

Since then he's gone up through the forest, across the wheat fields.

Mountain Bull has run the gauntlet of farms and villages.

They need to find out how he's got through this dangerous area.

And that is quite a populated area little shambas.

Yes, it is. They're all tiny little farms -

and not only that there's one quite important village

-that he has to go through.

-Mm-hm.

According to this,

it looks like he has started and ended on the main road.

What I would really like you to do

is to find out his precise pattern by following his tracks.

-So, I need to take a good tracker.

-Yes.

Outside the reserve's boundaries,

elephants have to live alongside people.

There's never been more competition for space.

How much trouble has Mountain Bull run into?

Saba must find out.

Back inside the reserve, the land is drying.

Hard times lie ahead for all the animals here.

The Winds family are crossing the river in search of food.

But one of the herd is missing.

Buster, the six-year-old son of the matriarch, Harmattan,

is nowhere in sight.

At the edge of the plains, there's an interesting situation.

A very young female has come into season,

probably for the first time...

..and hot on her heels is none other than Buster.

He's not alone.

Two big bulls have also detected she's ready to mate.

One of them is Plato,

the elephant who was checking out the family groups in the river.

The female is tiny.

Plato and the other bull tower above her -

and they're several times her weight.

If a bull attempts to mount her, he could crush her.

Just what is Buster thinking?

Flirting with the female right in front of the bulls

could get him into serious trouble.

But the big bulls won't harm him.

Recent research has revealed young bulls produce a substance

called the "innocence secretion".

This sends a signal to the big guys

that he's young, and absolutely no threat.

Buster's been so distracted by the female,

he's completely forgotten about his family.

He suddenly realises they're nowhere in sight.

Buster is alone and very upset.

In his quest for independence, he's got more than he bargained for.

50 miles south of the reserve,

Saba is hot on the trail of Mountain Bull.

Elephant tracks.

-Fresh tracks?

-Fresh tracks, yes.

The data shows she's just days behind.

Saba has met with John Pameri,

a ranger from the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy.

He's been getting reports about a bull elephant with a collar.

Mountain Bull's journey started in this protected forest,

but it wasn't long before he reached his first obstacle.

Saba's about to find out exactly how clever Mountain Bull is.

Some of the bulls, they break the fence,

but the Mountain Bull, they used to get...

-You can see how they made all this...

-Oh, my God.

Look at that both ways, in and out.

He didn't want to break the fence, but through the gate he's an expert

of going through the gate.

-He's a polite fellow.

-Yeah!

Amazingly, Mountain Bull's learnt to use the gate.

The farmers now leave it loosely fastened

so he can get through without wrecking it.

-Right, cos if he had a lock he would smash the whole thing.

-Yeah.

On the other side of the fence,

there are fields of crops as far as the eye can see.

This is where he comes.

Yeah. The route is just somewhere towards the...

Look at this, straight through the wheat fields

and around the base of that hill in the distance,

-and then he runs the gauntlet through the shambas.

-Yeah, yeah.

-So, we are dead on course.

-Yeah, we are on track.

-Right through the wheat.

-Yeah.

There's no place to hide for an elephant,

but Mountain Bull is clever and crossed under cover of darkness.

Then he went through another gate and on to a road.

There's a definite sign an elephant's been here.

-We've got a tracks.

-Yes, tracks.

-How old did you think they are?

They are two days old.

Two days, that figures.

That's when he came up here.

It looks like he stopped for a snack.

What's in this, then, lots of wheat?

Yes. You can see...

seeds.

-You can see, yeah.

-That's the evidence. Hard evidence.

Yeah. This is seed.

Saba's found Mountain Bull is eating crops and damaging fences.

That isn't going to go down well with the farmers.

But more difficult problems lie ahead.

Back in Samburu, Buster has rejoined the Winds family.

His recent adventure showed he's a long way to go

before he can compete with the big boys.

So, he's found someone his own size to pick on.

Feeding nearby are the Biblical Towns family,

with the young disabled female, Babel.

She broke a leg many years ago, and although her family protect her,

she's often left way behind the others.

Unfortunately, she makes the ideal target for Buster.

This is the last thing that poor Babel needs.

Finally, she catches up with the rest of her family...

..but Buster is still in a combative mood.

He's taken on two bulls much bigger than him.

Nearby, Breeze is playing.

She hears the commotion

and curiosity leads her into the middle of the fight.

This is exactly the kind of situation

where a baby elephant could get hurt.

Knowing Breeze is at risk, her mother, Harmattan,

joins the fray and swiftly puts a stop to it.

Buster's boisterous ways could have harmed Breeze,

and Harmattan won't tolerate this behaviour.

If Buster carries on like this, he could get pushed out of the herd.

The dry season is here.

Now all life converges on the river.

Herders from far and wide

are bringing their flocks to the last of the water.

Predators are closing in.

With so many animals near the river, it's the best place to get a meal.

They aren't welcome here.

On the edge of the river bank, a lion has the ideal vantage point.

All the other animals now risk an ambush on their way to water.

In Samburu, lions are the biggest killers of baby elephants.

Harmattan must take extra care of Breeze

as she leads the Winds to the drying river.

The newly exposed sand is a fun place for Breeze

and the other young elephants to play.

The activity flushes up insects, which in turn attract birds.

Two birds are twice as much fun -

but Breeze needs to pay attention.

With lions around,

she's vulnerable if she moves too far from Harmattan's side.

She's lost.

This elephant is not her mother.

Her panic's clear.

At last, she sees her mother.

They're safely reunited...

but Breeze must learn to be careful.

We are now on high.

Saba and John have climbed to a vantage point

to check on Mountain Bull's route.

-That's Samburu over there.

-Yeah.

-That's where we've come from.

-Yeah.

From here they can see what he's up against.

The wheat fields are to the south,

several villages lie ahead to the north -

and this could be the flashpoint for conflict.

Many elephants use this route,

and more people are moving in all the time.

What does become very evident when you stand up here

and look at it, is how much new settlement there is here.

Mountain Bull is over 50 years old,

so most of the settlement has appeared within his lifetime.

His journey is getting more difficult every year.

-We'll try up here.

-Yeah.

-Go through again the gate.

-Another gate.

-Yeah.

Are the people in the villages prepared to live with elephants?

Saba is about to find out.

THEY GREET EACH OTHER

-What's this?

-An elephant broke that.

-The fence.

-The fence.

-When did that happen?

-Yesterday.

For the people here, Mountain Bull is far more than a dot on a map.

He's a very real bull elephant, causing real problems.

-Have you seen him?

-Yes.

-You know him?

-Yes.

-So, he comes through here quite often?

Quite often, quite often, he comes.

Saba finds that Mountain Bull even walks down the main street.

Someone could get hurt here.

Saba's also concerned someone might kill Mountain Bull

if they felt threatened.

Nearly everyone here has their own smallholding to grow vegetables.

For a bull elephant building up size and strength,

it's a temptation that's hard to ignore.

Here, missing cabbages.

Yeah. They are so small.

Lots of cabbages gone.

-Yeah.

-Well, I think your cabbages are very sweet, Wilfred.

They are very sweet, sweet.

They eat all over here.

When they get satisfied, they went straight through the wire.

Straight through the fence.

You can see the new fence wires.

There's no more. Because they have nothing to eat...

They smell your nice cabbages here.

They say, "I want cabbages".

Because they have no-one to cook for them.

THEY LAUGH

Although this farmer has a sense of humour,

Saba knows a few cabbages is a big loss here.

Just beyond the fields,

Saba and John reach Mountain Bull's goal, the Imenti forest.

This is now his sanctuary.

A sanctuary for elephants.

The forest is protected and Mountain Bull is safe.

But as the team suspected,

he's caused problems on the way here.

Something must be done.

Back at camp, the team are always looking for new ways

to help people and elephants live in harmony...

..and they've come up with an unusual idea.

Lucy King joined Save The Elephants

to find a way of scaring elephants away from crops.

But what could an elephant be frightened of?

It's the middle of the day,

and the Winds family are dozing under a tree.

Breeze doesn't look like she'll be waking up for anyone!

But that might be about to change.

(OK, that's fine.)

Lucy sets up to film the Winds' reaction.

Then she turns on the speaker.

SPEAKER PLAYS RECORDING OF BEES

It's playing the sound of swarming, angry honey bees.

BUZZING CONTINUES

There's an instant reaction.

Most of the family turn away from the sound.

Harmattan takes a defensive position with Breeze at her side.

Once she decides to move, the pace picks up,

and the Winds leave in a cloud of dust.

The idea of elephants being scared of bees is actually a Kenyan folklore.

We were expecting them to react,

and we were expecting they would move away from the sound,

but I wasn't expecting it to be quite so fast.

Bees are too small to sting through an African elephant's skin,

but calves have much thinner skins,

and I think a true swarm of wild African bees

would potentially sting a calf to death.

As far as Harmattan's concerned,

she's defending Breeze and her family against a real threat.

But as soon as they can't hear the bees, they relax.

African honey bees are the most dangerous in the world.

But how can the elephants' fear be used

to help people and elephants live together?

Temperatures in the reserve are soaring to over 30 degrees.

The Winds family are heading back to the drying river.

Because they're so big, elephants have trouble losing heat,

and the Winds are hot and thirsty.

There are only a few mud holes left to cool down.

Breeze is making the most of it.

Getting fresh water to drink is now a real problem.

When the water really gets low,

then it's not actually really running properly.

So there's a bit of stagnant water here and there.

I don't think it's very clean,

so they just prefer digging and getting really good water.

The elephants have a unique way of reaching the clean water.

Using feet and trunks,

they dig out holes that fill from water beneath the sand.

The Winds aren't the only family who need water.

But there's a hierarchy between the herds,

and the Winds are not at the top of the pecking order.

Harmattan has to work hard to defend their drinking holes.

This is much more stressful than the usual trip to the river,

and tempers can easily fray.

Upepo, one of Harmattan's grown-up daughters, is feeling the pressure.

She's pushing her own calf away from the drinking hole.

This is a challenging time for the Winds family,

and it's going to get harder as the drought tightens its grip.

Lucy is travelling south from Samburu.

She's headed for the remote farming settlement of Ex-Erok,

where elephants and people are locked in conflict.

A group of big bulls are causing havoc by raiding crops.

These elephants are here day in, day out.

Even a daily chore like taking goats to water

can turn into a terrifying ordeal.

ELEPHANTS TRUMPET LOUDLY

Under cover of darkness,

the bulls break into smallholdings to feed on tasty crops.

The destruction is clear.

Lucy's been joined by Onesmus Kahindi,

a key member of the Save The Elephants team

who works closely with local people.

They find that the farmers are under relentless attack.

The elephant, they came and they destroyed the whole thing.

My God. Last night. Not one, there were 14.

-14 elephants?

-So they're just coming...

They come every night, every night.

People here live on less than 1 a day,

and this is a devastating loss.

The villagers are up most nights until dawn

trying to scare the elephants away.

This is very dangerous.

Even the children, you just call them to help you.

And small ones, yes!

All elephants that come into the land cause massive damage.

The bulls are particularly scary because of their huge tusks,

and the damage they can do,

and they really are causing absolute terror

to some of the young children.

It's clear elephants are a major problem here.

Lucy's hoping her experiments with the bee noises

might be able to help.

In Samburu, the earth is parched...

..and the water is almost gone.

All the animals will struggle now.

Crocodiles are driven from the dry riverbed

to take shelter until the rains come.

The Winds family are heading for shade.

But with so many elephants forced close together, tensions are rising.

ELEPHANT GRUNTS

CALF SQUEALS

A calf from another family is knocked clean off her feet.

It's Upepo, Harmattan's daughter, who's made this unprovoked attack.

ELEPHANT RUMBLES

The calf is hurt and very upset.

Elephants rarely show this level of violence.

Upepo and the Winds sense immediately

they've done something wrong.

Harmattan leads them away.

The calf's mother has arrived,

trying to work out who attacked her youngster.

Smelling the ground helps her piece together what's happened.

Her group is the Native Americans

and now their matriarch, Mohican, is on the warpath.

The Winds have retreated under a tree.

Upepo seems a picture of guilt.

She's got the whole family into trouble -

stress they don't need in the difficult dry season.

Mohican clearly thinks she's worked out who's responsible.

She heads straight for the Winds.

ELEPHANT ROARS

The Winds have no option but to flee.

Mohican is the more dominant elephant,

and they seem to know they're in the wrong.

MOHICAN RUMBLES

But they've lost a prime spot near the river.

Their tough times have just got tougher.

In Ex-Erok, Lucy and Onesmus have seen the devastation

caused by crop-raiding elephants.

They think they may be able to help the villagers.

Lucy has set up traditional beehives around one smallholding.

-So here we go, here's one of the hives.

-Great.

The hives are linked with a strong wire to form a fence.

If the elephant walks through,

it pushes it and causes both beehives to start swinging.

-Without breaking the shade...

-Without breaking it.

When the hives swing, it upsets the bees and they start swarming.

Based on Lucy's experiments in the reserve,

this sound should put the elephants off.

So that's the theory.

Lucy needs to see if it's working.

-Maina, hi.

-Hi.

-This is Ephrahim Maina, he's the farmer.

-Jambo.

Maina's farm is directly in the elephants' path

when they come to crop-raid.

It was one the worst affected.

But now, things have changed.

He has a maize crop on his little garden,

but his neighbours don't,

because they don't have the same set-up as he has got.

There's an added bonus. The farmers can harvest and sell the honey.

If we can stop even 20% of these elephants coming in

and improve income, through beehives, and bees and honey,

it's a win-win situation.

The team's idea has worked.

Using bees has stopped the elephants and given one farmer a break.

It's now going to be used in other villages.

Back at camp, Saba's returned.

She's telling Iain what she found out about Mountain Bull.

It was just very interesting seeing where he went,

straight through the wheat fields like we thought.

Saba's seen first-hand what Mountain Bull is up against.

The wheat farming is on a vast scale,

so Saba thinks the farmers are prepared to put up

with a few elephants.

Where I started getting concern from him

is where he's coming into the village,

because as the human population grows there,

and people encroach more into that area,

they won't be quite so tolerant of Mountain Bull.

So, we've got to find a solution.

There's a valley that runs into the forest, avoiding the villages.

If Mountain Bull and the others could be diverted here

using a fence, it could solve the problem.

Then he'd be into the sanctuary of the Imenti forest.

-Without bothering the local community.

-Exactly.

It seems like a very neat solution.

Using the collar's data and with collaboration from local farmers,

the conflict could be stopped.

Mountain Bull has proved to be clever and adaptable,

and the team will keep tracking him to check he's safe.

The reserve is now in full grip of the drought.

After being pushed away by the Native Americans,

the Winds are back at the river.

Competition for drinking holes is still fierce.

ELEPHANT SNORTS

A family called the Spice Girls drives two of the Winds away.

But Harmattan's had enough of being pushed around.

She takes charge, and gives her family time to drink.

Leading the herd is a big responsibility.

Harmattan must draw on the experience of a lifetime

to guide her family and new baby safely through the dry season.

Buster has had a first taste of independence.

His boisterous behaviour is certain to get him into more trouble,

but for now, he's still very much part of the family.

When Breeze runs back to the family in a panic,

it's Buster who greets her.

Over the past weeks Breeze has really grown up.

She's more confident

and she's starting to learn the skills she'll need as an adult.

Outside the reserve,

the team are helping people find new ways of living with elephants.

There's still a lot to do,

but to Iain, protecting elephants has real benefits.

Elephants, in a way,

are the symbol and the spearhead for all the other animals.

If you take care of the elephants, you are taking care, really,

of the whole environment

and a whole spectrum of beasts and birds and insects.

But the rains haven't arrived,

and times will get harder before they get better.

Breeze is the youngest elephant in the reserve,

the most vulnerable to the ravages of the drought.

David and the team can only hope she makes it safely through.

In the meantime, she's as confident and playful as any baby animal.

Next time on The Secret Life Of Elephants...

We find out if Breeze survives the dry season.

The big bulls march into the reserve.

We see what happens when one attacks a car.

An outbreak of poaching puts the team on high alert

and a baby elephant is in desperate need of help.