Four minutes—that's the average amount of time wildlife officials have from when a tranquilizer dart punctures an elephant's thick skin to when the anesthetizing drug takes effect.

This short window is the most critical time period if you want to re-locate a six-ton elephant over 150 miles.

In late July, wildlife managers in Malawi finished a two-year project that involved moving 520 elephants from Liwonde National Park and Majete Wildlife Reserve to their new home in Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve. The hope is that the transplanted pachyderms will help solve conservation problems in both their original homes and their new locale.

In Liwonde and Majete, booming elephant populations were leading to an increase in human and wildlife conflict. Elephants that encroach on human settlements