Park rangers in Senegal celebrate as beloved 'Ghost elephant' makes rare appearance

Park rangers in Senegal celebrate as beloved 'Ghost elephant' makes rare appearance

Park rangers in Senegal celebrate as beloved 'Ghost elephant' makes rare appearance In 2019, a beloved African forest elephant named Ousmane was thought to be only one of five to 10 elephants left living in Senegal’s Niokolo-Koba National Park. Ousmane, who was named after one of the park rangers, disappeared without a trace soon after that survey, earning his species the nickname: “Ghost elephant.”  That is, until recent trail camera footage caught a rare glimpse of Ousmane walking the fields at night.  After the footage was captured, it was a cause of celebration for officials at both Senegal’s National Parks Directorate and Panthera, a local wild cat conservation organization.  “Elephants are under immense pressure in West Africa,” Philipp Henschel, Panthera’s regional director of West and Central Africa, told Newsweek.  “Only a few populations of the pachyderms survive in this region. Niokolo-Koba National Park, where this individual was filmed, is the last area in Senegal where…