Social Behavior

Female African elephants exhibit multiple levels of social organization within a herd as the functional social unit. Herds consist of related females with the oldest female being the matriarch. Related family groups that frequently fuse are termed kinship groups, led by the grand matriarch (Wittemyer et al., 2005). The older the matriarch, the more knowledge she possesses, allowing her to make ecologically relevant decisions essential for survival (McComb et al., 2001). Leaders in a herd are important for coordination social organization, showing a parallel with humans, suggesting common evolutionary origins (McComb et al., 2001).

 

Individuals may gain from from following an older leader because they possess a form of superior knowledge that has been passed down to them, enabling better decisions in response to environmental triggers (McComb et al., 2001). It has most often been suggested that older leaders provide a vital source of ecological knowledge such as: the location of scarce resources, migration routes, or the ability to respond to predatory threats (McComb et al., 2001). The experience to apply when such strategies should be implemented would have critical survival benefits for individual group members (McComb et al., 2001). Previous researchers have postulated that elephants groups can increase fitness from the improvement in ecological knowledge communicated by an older matriarch (McComb et al., 2001). This speculation suggests better utilization of scarce resources and predator avoidance during drought (McComb et al., 2001).

 

The extent to which elephants experience behavioral traits is similar to humans. Observations have proven that elephants can become distressed when faced with the death of a member of the herd and even show a special interest in the deceased of their kind (Douglas-Hamilton et al,, 2005). These behaviors were not restricted to only members of a herd, but to elephants outside of the family as well (Douglas-Hamilton et al., 2005). McComb et al. (2001) had recent findings in which elephants spend significantly more time exploring elephant remains than inanimate objects or the remains of other large herbivores. 

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Douglas-Hamilton et al. (2005) tracked a family unit by the name of "First Ladies". The matriarch of the herd, Eleanor, passed away while the study was conducted. 

Once Eleanor hit the ground, a matriarch from another herd, Grace, rapidly approached Eleanor in attempts to get her back up (Douglas-Hamilton et al., 2005). Grace attempted to lift Eleanor using her tusks however, Eleanor was too weak to hold her upright position (Douglas-Hamilton et al., 2005). Grace then tried to push Eleanor in hopes of getting her to walk but to no avail, Eleanor was not able to get up (Douglas-Hamilton et al., 2005). During this time, Grace was visibly stressed, vocalizing and continuing to push Eleanor with her tusks (Douglas-Hamilton et al., 2005). At some point, Grace was eventually left by her family but continued alone, to try and push Eleanor with no positive results (Douglas-Hamilton et al., 2005). Eleanor was too weak to take advantage of Grace's help, so Grace stayed with Eleanor until nightfall (Douglas-Hamilton et al., 2005). 

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Eleanor's herd was most likely unaware of her passing, however, while returning from the river after nightfall, they came across the carcass (Douglas-Hamilton et al., 2005). Eleanor's 6 month old calf nuzzled her mother's carcass, appearing to be confused trying to suck from other young calves and then returning to her mother (Douglas-Hamilton et al., 2005). After some time another herd came over, pushing out the deceased matriarch's herd to investigate the carcass (Douglas-Hamilton et al., 2005). However, Eleanor's 6 month old calf was not pushed away from her mother (Douglas-Hamilton et al., 2005).

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Based off of radio tracking and direct observations, a total of 5 families had visited Eleanor's body, showing distinct interest in her carcass (Douglas-Hamilton et al., 2005). The loss of a matriarch signifies the loss of knowledge and care of others (Douglas-Hamilton et al., 2005). The death of a matriarch is significant enough for a family unit to even split up (Douglas-Hamilton et al., 2005). Three months after Eleanor's death, her calf also passed, due to lack of milk and deprivation of maternal care (Douglas-Hamilton et al., 2005).

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