There is something about elephant ears that truly captivates me…
It might be their huge proportions or their resemblance to the African map; but ever since I spend time with elephants in the wild, I look for signs in their ears that can give me an insight on their life and behavior. A recent experience at the Kruger National Park in South Africa revived my curiosity...
I was with my family looking for a place where to stretch our legs after a long day looking for the white lions of Timbavati. We found a beautiful tree that offered shade and parked the Land Rover there. As soon as we got out of the car, I heard a sound that made me tremble. We jumped right back in and decided it was time to leave…Little we knew, we were going to encounter three female elephants with their calves. Their ears in full blow and their eyes looking straight at us. It was clear we were no longer welcome there…
I am not surprised by their reaction. Humans are among the very few animals that pose a threat to elephants. And let’s face it, they have solid reasons to not like us. Every 15-20 min an elephant is killed. They have learned to consider us a threat.
Elephants are incredibly smart. They not only are able to recognize the vocal identity of at least 100 other elephants [1], African elephants can also distinguish human languages, gender and even age when assessing threats! In a study [2] conducted in the Amboseli Park in Kenya the researchers played, through camouflaged speakers, the voices of two different local tribes (the Maasai and the Kamba) to 47 elephant groups and monitored the animals’ behavior. The Maasai, a semi-nomadic tribe, are known to occasionally spear elephants during fierce competition for water or cattle-grazing space. While the Kambas do not seem to have much conflict with the elephants.
When the elephants heard the voice of the Massai calling “Look, look over there, a group of elephants is coming,” in their native language, the elephants responded quickly, lifting their trunks to smell the air and grouping for protection. On the other hand, when they played the voice of the Kambas, the elephants were less likely to flee. Interesting enough, they conducted the same test playing the voice of Maasai women and children and the reaction of the elephants was similar to when they heard the voices of the Kambas. This makes sense as male Maasai warriors tend to be the ones with the spear.
The same study also observed that older matriarchs never retreated when the heard the voice of the boys, while young matriarchs retreated 40% of the time. This might suggest that knowledge about threats is not necessarily innate but learned. Unfortunately, in most cases, older matriarchs are the preferred target for poachers as they carry the longer tusks. With the loss of the matriarch, the herd loses critical knowledge about water sources and threats. The consequences are devastating to the herd but also to the local communities as elephants become more aggressive towards humans.
One thing is clear, being able to make these distinctions is absolutely remarkable and it only shows us how magnificent these creatures truly are. Learning more about elephants’ decision-making process and how they perceive the world around them, may be a novel approach to mitigating human-elephant conflicts across different countries. For instance, by focusing on how they find food, or why they choose to raid certain crops might help conservationists plan better mitigation strategies and a more thorough landscape management plan.
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