Mutiara, which means pearl in the Indonesian language, was collared in February 2019 and is part of Anna’s core family group.
Mutiara walking ahead of two younger females in the herd
Mutiara is part of a herd of up to 30 elephants and shares much of her time and home range with Ginting, Indah, and (to a lesser extent) with Cinta. There are several babies and juveniles of all ages in the herd indicating healthy natural population growth. Mutiara's herd was involved with much fission-fusion behaviour with Indah and Ginting’s herds over the last six months.
Two adult females from Mutiara's herd with a tiny calf
The movement of Mutiara’s herd during October 2022 was still in the area on the north side of the corridor and joined Quin’s herd in the Manggatal area. During this time, there were 10-15 elephants with Mutiara including some young calves, however this decreased after Mutiara moved across to the south side of the corridor road and Quin’s herd (along with other Mutiara herd members) joined the Cinta herd in January 2023.
Map showing the movement of Mutiara's herd
The Elephant Conservation and Monitoring Unit monitored Mutiara using a GPS transmitter until February 2023. The team observed that Mutiara’s GPS Collar, which is planned to be replaced soon, had detached itself in the LAJ Block 4 area. Until March 2023, Mutiara’s movement covered an area of 181 km2. In March 2023, the team intensively monitored the small Mutiara group which had separated from the others, which consisted of five individuals with a baby elephant.
They captured this video of Mutiara’s small herd protecting their elephant calf when they came across the team on their motorbikes.
Thank you to our Mutiara adopters for helping to keep her safe and protected in the Bukit Tigapuluh Ecosystem.
(Program run by Ministry of Environment and Forestry and Frankfurt Zoological Society).