Jul 26, 2002 By Frances Borsodi Zajac 6 min read

PITTSBURGH – The Omnimax screen at the Carnegie Science Center fills with a charging matriarch elephant, set on protecting her family from the filmmakers who have invaded her territory. Viewers are amazed at how rapidly the elephant charges at the never-seen film crew. She continues faster and faster, never letting up. The amazing dimensions of the Omnimax screen allow the matriarch to appear larger than life. She comes closer and closer to the screen as your heart begins to pound faster and you push yourself back further into your chair to get away.

Luckily, the film crew escaped and somehow managed to come back to the elephants again and again in order to film this wonderful story called “Africa’s Elephant Kingdom,’ which is running at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh through Dec. 19.

“Africa’s Elephant Kingdom’ is about an elephant family and how they survive as a family,’ explained Mark Trumbull, the science center’s director of marketing, during a press preview.

Told through the eyes of a 57-year-old bull elephant, “Africa’s Elephant Kingdom’ gives a rare glimpse into the private lives of these magnificent animals. They live on the African plains in a hot, dry climate where they eat grass and leaves, and protect themselves from predators.

What’s most amazing about the elephants, however, is the strong family bond they maintain. The film shows that elephants live in groups, ruled by a matriarch, who guides her family through good times and bad. The group contains other female elephants and the young. Bull elephants, when they reach a certain age, go off to live on their own but will return to the group to mate.

The film covers a period of six months in the elephants’ lives, which take place in Kenya’s Amboseli National Park.

With tenacity, the film crew managed to capture scenes of elephant life rarely glimpsed outside of Africa. They include a newborn female elephant learning to take her first steps and trying to keep up with her herd. They show how all the females in the herd take care of the young, whether they are the mothers or not. They demonstrate young bull elephants learning to fight with each other in play and, later, in reality as they compete for females to mate.

They also reveal the elephants’ dependence on each other and the importance of family in their lives.

The film’s narrator, portraying the bull elephant, tells the audience almost immediately: “Everything I need to know I learned from my family. They are forever a part of me.’

A 51-year-old matriarch, known as Torn Ear leads this particular herd. It is her job is to remember the paths to lead the family to food and water, and keep them from danger.

“She cannot falter or fail or the family is lost,’ said the narrator.

During the course of the film, the family of elephants goes from good times to bad. The rains are late and drought takes over the land, causing the food and water to dry up. The matriarch leads her family on a journey to search for food.

Times are hard. The family must deal with the threat of predators as well as death from hunger.

Eventually, however, the rains return.

“The rains fall for weeks. The rivers rise and fall and rise again. Food and water are everywhere,’ reports the narrator.

The film also offers views of the beautiful African landscape, both mountains and valleys as well as rivers. Other African wildlife makes guest appearances. They include ostriches, giraffes, lions and hippos.

But it is the elephants that viewers will long remember – their gentleness towards each other, their caring ways and determination to protect one another from harm.

The elephant’s social structure and genuine devotion to each other is fascinating to watch. But it is sad to learn that elephants raised in zoos do not have these skills.

Willie Theison, head elephant keeper at the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium, appeared at the press preview of the film to explain the challenges of caring for elephants in a zoo.

Zoos can provide the basics, such as medical care and nutrition.

“These basics aren’t enough,” Theison said. “One of the key elements is to offer a strong, cohesive group to grow up in.’

Theison explained that most elephants in zoos are caught when they were two or three years old, before they knew how to be elephants. They are placed in groups with other elephants, who are not members of their family. There is a challenge to have the elephants get along.

“In the wild, the matriarch rules,’ Theison said. “In captivity, the biggest and baddest runs the other elephants. They have no elders to teach them social skills.’

In fact, elephants in captivity don’t know how to mate or take care of a newborn.

“Sometimes the elephant has never seen a baby before,’ Theison said.

There is no one to teach parenting skills. Theison said elephants in captivity have a 40 percent mortality rate the first year.

Added to the problem is that elephants in captivity are often bred at a later age than in the wild. Theison said that elephants become sexually mature at age 12 to 13 and can breed into their 40s. In captivity, females start breeding in their 20s with an increased risk of hurting their babies because they have no idea what to do with it.

Zoo officials are striving to successfully breed and raise elephants in captivity.

“When I came to Pittsburgh nine years ago, that was one of our goals,’ Theison said. “We started with one bull elephant and three females. The last nine years have also been the most challenging and rewarding in my career. We now have two calves – a three year old and a two year old.’

Pittsburgh has now been able to start its own natural clan of elephants.

Elephants, Theison said, have an average lifespan of 65 to 70 years. They depend on their six sets of teeth to eat and stay alive. After they lose their last teeth, they starve to death.

There are African and Asian elephants, which can be recognized from each other because the African elephants have much large ears. Africans are also darker in color and weigh an average of 1,200 to 13,000 pounds while Asians weigh an average 700 to 900 pounds.

“Africa’s Elephant Kingdom’ runs approximately 40 minutes and was produced by Discovery Channel Pictures.

The cost of seeing the film is $8 for Omnimax only or half-price with general admission, which is $14 for adults and $10 for children and senior citizens.

For more information on viewing times or hours of operation, call 412-237-3400 or visit the Web site at CarnegieScienceCenter.org.