Wise Old Elephants Keep the Young Calm
upstart writes:
Wise old elephants keep the young calm:
The study, in collaboration with Elephants for Africa, examined the behaviour of 281 male elephants in an all-male area in Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, Botswana, over a period of three years.
The elephants were divided into four age groups, adolescents (10-15 and 16-20 years), and adults (21-25 and 26+ years).
The results found that with fewer old bull elephants around, elephants were more likely to be aggressive towards non-elephant targets such as vehicles, livestock and other species.
The adolescent elephants, in particular, were more aggressive and fearful to non-elephant targets when they were alone compared to with other males. This indicates that socially isolated adolescents may also be an increased threat to people.
[...] "Our research draws attention to what is often a rather overlooked area in animal behaviour; that of the complex relationships and connections that occur between males in non-breeding all-male societies," said lead author Connie Allen of Exeter's Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour.
"It appears the presence of more knowledgeable, older elephants in groups may play a key role in keeping the younger, less experienced males calm and lowering their perception of their current threat level, which means there's less risk of aggression towards humans and other species.
Do gray-bearded programmers similarly rein in bright-eyed junior programmers?
Journal Reference:
Connie R. B. Allen, Darren P. Croft, Lauren J. N. Brent. Reduced older male presence linked to increased rates of aggression to non-conspecific targets in male elephants, Proceedings of the Royal Society B (DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.1374)
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