Elephants Needs Mommies Too

It is an interesting concept to think that adult elephants keep young elephants in check and provide guidance on how to be responsible. But thanks to us Humans their quality of life has been diminished. From forcing them into lives as entertainers and workers to poaching and outright slaughter, these animals have certainly gotten more than they deserve at the hands of humans. Yet, with the research conducted, it seems that our treatment of this social animal has had effects.

Much like us, in the absence of adult supervision, elephants will grow up wild and tend to be violent without the support, training and care of their complex social order. We find ourselves wondering why an elephant may be particularly hostile but yet in most cases, when the story of the individual’s life is revealed, there was more than likely an incident in its life that had a negative effect and the character of the elephant cannot be written off as “it’s a wild animal”. Rouge elephants do not tend to be the result of bad genetics or due to some random chance. The problem is that we have to really understand the reasons for these animals behaving this way and try to effect changes in how we interact with them if we want our relationship with these animals to improve. One of the explanations for this behavior is that when elephants are young their brains are developing and if their parent or mentor is taken away these basic social neuronal path ways are not allowed to develop. Unfortunately, in a world dominated by money and greed, we are far less likely to take the time to make amends even for this animal that can be “rehabilitated” from traumatic stress.

It is interesting (and perhaps selfish), then, that we are appalled and shocked when an elephant seemingly takes revenge. Who is the killer? Who started the “war” between man and beast? While the answer logically seems to be to point at ourselves, it seems pretty hard to convince many of the people in Africa to stop the way they are treating wildlife when they themselves hold little value in even human life. More to my point, the article makes reference to an elephant that had a bad disposition that eventually killed a human. This particular elephant after killing the man, took the body covered it with dirt and branches and stayed by the corpses side in an act of mourning as if it felt bad for the death. Perhaps we are reminded about or lack of compassion in living things by this act – but who will actually listen to or believe the message and who will change because of it?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/magazine/08elephant.html?fta=y

Posted by KJCV (10)