Emily Kate

Young Emily Kate lives with her family in Amboseli National Park, in the Rift Valley Province of southern Kenya. Close to the Tanzania border, the 393sq km park is one of Kenya’s best-loved and visited national parks. It is world-famous for its elephant population, which numbers more than 1300 individuals. The Park nestles at the foot of the awe-inspiring snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro, which at 5895m (19,340ft) is Africa’s highest mountain.

Emily Kate is Born Free Foundation’s adopted elephant, named by the English actor and Born Free Patron Martin Clunes, after his own young daughter. Working with elephant expert Cynthia Moss and the Amboseli Trust for Elephants, Born Free has helped keep Emily Kate safe since the day she was born. Her family, known as the ‘EBs’, have been studied and monitored by Cynthia and her team since 1973, and Born Free has funded this work for over 20 years.

Emily Kate is the daughter of Echo, the remarkable and wise matriarch elephant, known throughout the world thanks to the BBC’s popular Echo of the Elephants TV series. Using information passed on by her mother, Echo had guided and protected the EB family, which to this day consists of her sisters, daughters, female cousins and their calves. Echo died of old age in May 2009 aged 64, having just four years earlier given birth to Emily Kate’s sister Esprit.

The photo shows Echo (right) with Emily Kate.

Credit: Elephant Voices