RESOURCES

MIKE E-Learning

The MIKE e-learning platform offers a variety of learning modules designed to assist MIKE site officers, national wildlife agency staff and other protected area practitioners to strengthen the protection and management of MIKE sites and other protected areas. You can register on the platform at any time to receive updates about courses opening and get instant access.  

Elephant Mortality Monitoring

Videos and Handouts

The materials below provide training materials and guidelines designed to assist MIKE Site staff, managers and focal points with the collection and recording of elephant mortality information.

Video: Determining the Type of Death
Determining the type of death is the most important information collected on any elephant carcass found. The main categories of death are natural or illegal.

Guide: Natural Deaths
Natural elephant deaths can be as a result of old age, disease, drought, and a range of other causes. ​To download the guide, click on the cover page.

 

Guide: Illegal Deaths
Illegal elephant deaths can be as a result of poaching for ivory, revenge killing or human-wildlife conflict and a range of other causes.
To download the guide, click on the cover page.
Video: Identifying the Carcass Decay Stage
There are four carcass decay stages: fresh, recent, old and very old. These are explained in the video and worksheet.
Guide: Identifying the Carcass Decay Stage

To download the guide, click on the cover page.

Guide: Determining the Elephant’s Age and Sex

The age of the elephant when it died is divided into three classes: juvenile, sub-adult and adult.

To download the guide, click on the cover page.

Video: Determining the Elephant’s Age

Video: Determining Sex of an Elephant

Video: Recording Carcass Information

All of the information above needs to be properly recorded and submitted to the MIKE Programme.

Guide: Recording Carcass Information

To download the guide, click on the cover page.

Protocols and Guidelines

The following documents can help MIKE site staff, managers and national focal points ensure that they are collecting, managing and submitting data correctly.

MIKE Site Protocols Provides guidance to existing MIKE sites, as well as prospective new MIKE sites, in the collection, management, analysis and submission of monitoring information to the MIKE Programme.
MIKE Workbook A simple Excel document that enables MIKE Sites to record and submit the data that they contribute to the MIKE Programme in a simple and straightforward manner.
Law Enforcement Capacity Assessment Enables PA managers to assess the means and assets available to the PA to combat law enforcement challenges and helps identify the key capacity gaps that should be addressed.

Other resources

Survey Standards

Early on in its establishment the MIKE Programme funded population surveys and developed standards for these surveys. This work will now be led by the IUCN elephant specialist groups. The documents are available here for reference purposes.

Demographic data

A review of the existing literature on African elephant population dynamics and demography including demographic rates, age and sex-structured population and mortality estimates.

DONORS

An initiative of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States funded by the European Union

The MIKE Programme is entirely dependent on donor support. The European Union has been the most important donor for the MIKE Programme and has funded implementation in Africa since its inception in 2001. We are grateful to a wide range of other donors that have also helped support the programme’s implementation.

Resources