Why elephants never forget
Older female elephants' memories may be key to survival
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Tuesday, 12, Aug 2008 09:00
The memories of old female elephants may be the key to the species' survival during hard times, conservationists believe.
A study by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) suggests that elephant matriarchs can help others because of their memories of distant, life-sustaining sources of food and water.
They examined patterns of calf mortality during the drought of 1993 in Tanzania's Tarangire National Park.
When compared with other data, the researchers found a link between calf survivorship and the movements of the groups and, in particular, the ages of the female members within those groups.
The two groups that left the park, presumably in search of food and water, had matriarchs that were 45 and 38 years of age respectively, whereas the group that remained had a matriarch that was only 33 years of age.
The group that stayed suffered 63 per cent of the mortality for the year.
"It's enticing to think that these old females and their memories of previous periods of trauma and survival would have meant all the difference," said WCS researcher Dr Charles Foley.
"The data seem to support the speculation that the matriarchs with the necessary experience of such events were able to lead their groups to drought refugia."
Dr Nathalie Pettorelli, ZSL researcher and study co-author, added: "Climate change is expected to lead to a higher occurrence of severe drought in Africa and our study suggests that such extreme climatic events may act as a selection force on animal populations.
"As animals battle to cope certain individuals, such as these grand dames of the elephant kingdom, might become increasingly important."