So, if the matriarch is not crucial in day-to-day decision-making, when is she important? Successful matriarchs are not self-appointed leaders of their family; they are leaders because members of their family respect them, and they are respected because they have proven over the years that they can be trusted to make wise decisions in a time of crisis. Through the years older females become “repositories” of social and ecological knowledge. So natural leadership qualities (personality) and long experience combined are the makings of a wise matriarch. Individuals living in families with older, more experienced matriarchs seem to gain more (in terms of survivorship) from her experience. However, not all matriarchs make wise decisions. Many families split up soon after the death of a matriarch and we believe that this may be partly related to conflict within the group over the new leader.
Discover Elephant Behaviour
Elephants are incredibly majestic animals, admired for their strength, beauty, and intelligence. They’re an iconic symbol of Africa’s wildlife.
An elephant’s brain is three times the size of a human brain, with five times as many neurons. Their capacity for intellect and emotion is huge. Because of this, elephants think, feel and have the same ability as humans to make considered decisions and follow split-second instincts.
Elephant communication involves both direct and subtle movements; gestures and even sign language. Their ability to send signals over vast distances, without the aid of technology, far surpasses the capabilities of humans.
Herd Hierarchy
Elephants form tight family bonds and live in close matriarchal family groups of related females and calves. The gestation period for an elephant is twenty-two months, with females only coming into heat every four years, making the birth of a newborn baby an incredibly special occasion. Infants are not only cared for by their mother, but by other females in the herd.
Elephant memories span decades and continue to do so when passed down to future generations. This impressive memory bank serves matriarchs well during dry seasons when they need to guide their herd, sometimes tens of miles, to watering holes and fresh foraging locations that they remember from their past. These historic migration routes are mapped and stored by elephants creating their very own GPS system.
Male elephants leave their herd when reaching the adolescent age of thirteen or fourteen, as puberty hits. They will roam their rangeland alone, or join up with other males to form a bachelor herd. It is an important right of passage, as younger males will be kept in line by their elders, following their lead in learning how to compete for females, and respect members of the herd.
Foraging
It is not uncommon for elephants to use their powerful gymnastic skills to reach their favourite seeds and branches. Pushing off the ground onto their back legs takes enormous power and strength. Adult male elephants can grow to over six tonnes in weight, making this two-legged lift an incredible sight to witness. Elephants will use this well-honed skill to access acacia seeds and nutritious leaves usually out of reach. Due to their slow and steady digestive system, elephants will continue to graze throughout the day and night, for around sixteen hours in order to consume up to 200kg of food in a single day.
Another important nutritional source is the Baobab tree. The soft, porous bark has a high water content and a proven medicinal value too, as its fibres contain an antidote to various poisons.
Elephants use their body weight and tusks to pull the bark apart, before passing it to the younger members of the herd, using their adaptable trunks to grip small pieces.
How Abstract Art May Save Thailand’s Elephants
Jojo stands in front of the canvas and stares, waiting for the spark of inspiration to guide the paintbrush. The 20-year-old is one of the most talented of his peers, producing critically acclaimed works, which have fetched thousands of dollars. Described by many as stubborn and willful, the young artist possesses a restlessness that propels his creative endeavors, which includes acclaimed work with both the xylophone and organ. The journey that now finds Jojo in front of the easel has been circuitous; filled with the pitfalls and struggles that many artists experience. Wayward and mischievous as a youth, he tries to harness that energy for imaginative purposes and focus on slow and deliberate movements in his art.
What makes the young artist unique, other than his distinctive paintings, is that he paints with an appendage unavailable for the majority of artists: a trunk. Jojo, all 9000 pounds of him, is a pachyderm at The Thai Elephant Conservation Center (TECC) in Lampang, Thailand. The 19-year-old institution is the only government-owned elephant camp in the country and is primarily focused on the well-being and care of Thailand’s elephants, 2,700 of which live on private grounds. Its existence points to a critical issue within the Southeast Asian nation, one that comes with circumstances singularly unique to Thailand.
Approximately 95 percent of Thailand’s elephants are domesticated. For centuries, the Thai people relied on their brawn and bulk to clear forest and cultivate farmland, similar to the use of oxen and horses around the world. This reliance resulted in adoration, the population revering the animal and its contributions to human life. The use of elephants in the logging industry dramatically increased in the past century with the goal of modernizing the country. Unfortunately, the destruction of vast swaths of forest not only removed a natural habitat for elephants but also weakened the natural defense against typhoons. In 1989, after a serious natural disaster related to the South Pacific storms, the government put a ban on logging, which, although ecologically beneficial, also put elephants out of a job. The consequence was a large number of elephants, now without the protection of human caretakers, competing for resources with local populations. And those four-legged competitors also had valuable tusks, making them targets for poachers willing to commit ghastly slaughters to turn a quick buck. The situation remains dire. Some scientific reports indicate the entire Thai elephant population will be wiped out by 2030 if a solution does not materialize.
For the TECC, the challenge is daunting: a dwindling animal population with little remaining natural habitat is on the verge of extinction and the organization is charged with saving a species. Needless to say, creative measures surely need to be used to accomplish the feat. And TECC is up to the task. The center has instituted a range of innovative programs that not only ensure the elephants’ safety and well-being, but also their happiness. And while it may seem like an ancillary goal, the mental and emotional health of the elephants is integral to their survival.
Not surprisingly, elephants possess the largest brain of any land animal. Long known for recollection skills, the pachyderms are highly intelligent, displaying a range of natural behaviors including joy, grief, altruism, compassion, and creativity. It is that psychological complexity, intertwined with social implications, which places a great deal of importance on mental health. With this in mind, TECC introduced stimulating activities for its residents which include sports, dancing, listening to music, and, as we discovered above, art classes.
But how do elephants learn to paint? Surely it must be some sort of gimmick; force fed through repetition and required to be performed on cue. In reality, elephants have a natural inclination to doodle and, as an example of their multifaceted personalities, often have been seen creating masterpieces in the dirt with sticks. Yet, paint brushes and easels present a specialized challenge for creatures without opposable thumbs. Luckily, Mother Nature has presented elephants with a wonderfully useful accessory (one that possesses as many muscles as the entire human body) to handle an array of tasks, including gripping an extension for artistic endeavors. And with a little help from their lifelong companion, a mahout, elephants learn not only how to hold the brush but also the special aspects of putting brush to canvas and the strength needed to do so.
But selling the art for money? Yes, The Elephant Art Gallery (TEAG) does precisely that. Working in conjunction with TECC, TEAG sells the paintings online, some for nearly $500. For animal activists and others courageously defending those that cannot defend themselves, TEAG seems like a perfect target, preying on defenseless animals to make a profit. Despicable, right? Well, actually, it couldn’t be further from the truth. Every protest voiced in the name of the elephants is met with realities of free will and aims towards conservation.
To those appalled that the elephants are trained to perform such acts, rest at ease knowing that the mahouts merely train their companion how to hold the brush, not what specific images or shapes to draw (as some elephant centers do). Those raising concern about forcing the elephants to paint are rebuked by the fact that easels are set up, paintbrushes loaded and artists left to their own creativity.
If the elephants do not want to paint, they simply move on to another activity. But like some of us, there are individuals who show real talent and most likely find pleasure in the creative outlet. Moral outrage expressed because of profits made by elephant labor is often soothed by the substantial amount of proceeds directed to TECC in order to take care of its residents. Just like many artists, their work goes to providing their own food and shelter, with TEAG acting as the facilitator for the sale. And while humans do benefit financially as well, it also serves to propel the business and work towards not only stimulating sales but also education of the problems Thai elephants face.
TEAG now showcases works of art by numerous TECC residents, many of who have developed their own unique abstract style. And as the artists continue to share their creative talents with the world, they also help to improve the situation for themselves and their species.
To find out more about elephant art in Thailand at the TEAG, follow their Facebook page here.
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About Michael Cavanagh
Michael Cavanagh is a freelance writer in search of memorable locales, delectable cuisine, and delicious drink. An experienced world traveler, Michael views globetrotting as an adventure like no other. He hopes to share his discoveries with other oenophiles, foodies, nomads, and travel enthusiasts. Michael has been published in The Wine Enthusiast, PalatePress, Destinations Travel Magazine, Terroirist, and has a regular column at Examiner.
*For another cool story on elephants in Chiang Mai check out our piece on PooPooPaper (yes you read correctly — PooPooPaper).
Males
Young male elephants grow up in the tightly bonded society of females and as calves and juveniles they maintain close relationships with their relatives and participate in the many social events that affect their family, albeit at a lower intensity than their female age-mates. Males depart from their natal family anywhere from 9 to 18 years of age – a process that can take anywhere from 1 to 4 years. As a teenager a male elephant must learn a whole new set of rules based on his rank relative to each other male in the population, and his fluctuating sexual state. His transition from one society to the other changes gradually, but dramatically, over a period of eight or more years.
Independent males are often seen in small, all-male groups and they form lasting friendships with certain individuals, although these are looser arrangements than among female elephants. During sexually active periods males rove from one family group to the next in search of receptive females. Their interactions with family members are gentle and courteous, but rarely more. Once a male has located a receptive female he will, if he is competitively able, go into consort with her for a period of 2-3 days and then he will move on in search of another female.
Populations
A population of elephants can be defined as a community of individuals linked by genetic and social relationships of mating and parenthood. For instance, the Amboseli elephant population utilizes a cross-border area of Kenya and Tanzania around the northern and northwestern side of Kilimanjaro. The Amboseli elephants interact with at least three different populations: The Kilimanjaro forest and Kitumbeini populations in Tanzania and the Tsavo population in Kenya. Between these populations there exists some gene flow, but this remains at very low levels.
The Kilimanjaro elephants come in small groups to visit Amboseli several times during the course of a year. Amboseli males mate with Kilimanjaro females, but the reverse rarely occurs as the Kilimanjaro males are smaller in body size and cannot compete with Amboseli males for access to females. We have evidence now that some of our males travel as far as the Kitumbeini area in Tanzania, a distance of over 100 km, and we know that a male who we believe originally came from Amboseli and is included in the Amboseli population records, travels well into the range of the Tsavo population, on the north eastern side of the Chyulu Hills.
Large Social Networks
The three elephant species, the African savanna elephant, Loxodonta africana, the African forest elephant, L. cyclotis, and the Asian elephant, Elephas maximus, are large brained, intelligent and highly social mammals. Exceptionally long lived, elephants live in a fluid fission-fusion society accumulating social and ecological knowledge over decades.
African savanna elephants typically live in larger family groups than either of the two other elephant species, and they are more often found in large aggregations. As a consequence, it is possible that the number, variety and complexity of their interactions and relationships may be even greater than the two other elephant species. In Amboseli a female elephant may physically encounter hundreds of other individuals in the course of her daily range. The individuals she meets will be related to her by different degrees, and known to her based on the frequency and the quality of their previous meetings and these factors will shape the nature and define the form of the relationship. An adult male, too, may meet and interact with hundreds of different individuals in the course of a day, though the type and nature of his relationships may be tempered by on his age and sexual state.
Some of the calls used by elephants are powerful low frequency vocalizations that carry over long distances. Elephant can recognize the voices of hundreds of other elephants from up to 2 kilometers away. Family members in particular have an extensive vocal repertoire and an unusually large communication network, a phenomenon that may be unique to long-lived mammals like elephants with fluid social systems, long-range signaling capacities and the mental capacity for extensive social recognition.
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