Physically and quantitatively, orphaned young elephants appear to gain from the “support” of other young elephants.
This understanding stems from a study that analyzed the stress chemicals of orphaned elephants.
The objective was to calculate the long-term physical impact of this loss.
Elephants with more “friends” of similar age in their group had lower levels of stress hormones.
The findings show that this “social support” may alleviate the stress brought on by the death of a mother in these intelligent and social animals. According to the scientists’ research article, social ties have physiological effects.
Jenna Parker, an ecologist from Colorado State University, led the investigation. “If you’re out in the field observing elephants, it’s clear that family life is all that matters,” she told. “Until they are approximately eight or nine years old, calves rarely exceed ten meters from their mother.
“And if some of the elephants in a herd wander out, you will hear them communicating with one another. They constantly want to know where each other is.”
Between 2009 and 2013, ivory poaching in the two Kenyan reserves where this research was conducted increased dramatically. It orphaned numerous young elephants. One study from the same group highlighted the social ramifications of this; calves who lost their moms were typically subjected to greater violence from other elephants within their group.
Dr. Parker stated, “I wished to examine the physiological state of these orphans as a result.”
For more than a year, the researcher observed groups of African elephants to conduct her measurements. She had to observe and wait for each subject she was investigating to defecate to obtain excrement samples for analysis.
“You’ll be surrounded by elephants all day, but you’ll need binoculars and to keep a close check on their rear ends and tails to ensure you have the appropriate person,” she explained.
Together with her colleagues, she was able to study 25 orphaned African elephants, all of whom had lost their moms between one and nineteen years prior. They also studied 12 elephants of similar age that were not orphaned.
In terms of symptoms of long-term stress, there was little difference between orphans and non-orphans, which perplexed the researchers.
“Our study was conducted at least two years after a mother’s death, so we cannot comment on short-term differences,” Dr. Parker noted. Long-term, however, we did not observe any differences, which is excellent since it suggests that these orphans may have some resilience.
This resilience appears to be directly linked to social support from other elephants; those elephants with a larger number of companions of similar age had much lower levels of stress hormones than others.
Strong bonds
In terms of these physiological manifestations of stress, the study also revealed some unusual parallels between people and elephants.
Research conducted on AIDS-orphaned children in South Africa more than a decade ago indicated that orphaned children with a high level of social support from family and peers were less likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition characterized by elevated stress hormone levels.
Dr. Parker noted that elephants with family and social support retain more normal levels of stress hormones over time.
I find it fascinating that such a sociable species evolved so independently from humans, yet we still appear to agree on the significance of social relationships.
Regarding the survival of these endangered creatures, the researchers assert that conservationists should consider this vital social structure since elephant-to-elephant support could assist these individuals in adapting to the countless other hazards they face.
