Elephant
Introductions
Hello! I am Maame, the matriarch of a family of savannah elephants. We elephants seem to inspire a wide range of reactions – some people revere us while others loathe us. I’d like to help you understand why you should be in the camp that loves us!
We live in close-knit families. We also all have unique names, which is how our friends address us. And we have excellent long-term memories, are smart, polite, and goofy. So already you can see there is much to recommend us.
Fast Facts
Where We Live
We live throughout sub-Saharan Africa and the rainforests of Africa and Asia.
IUCN Status
African forest elephants are Critically Endangered, while African savanna and Asian elephants are Endangered, primarily due to:
- Poaching for ivory
- Habitat loss and fragmentation
- Human-wildlife conflict
- Climate change, which alters rainfall patterns resulting in water and food scarcity
Celebrity Elephant
Echo was featured in multiple documentaries as the matriarch who successfully guided her family through drought and scarcity. She also warmed many hearts by nurturing Ely, her first calf who was born with physical challenges. Check out Echo’s Wikipedia page to learn more about her.
World Elephant Day is August 12!
Fun Fact
Not only are we the largest land mammals, we also win the award for hearing across the widest range of frequencies and having the most smell receptors. This allows us to distinguish individuals based on sound and odor. So, while an elephant may forget a face, we would never forget a friend — even after a 23-year absence.
Subspecies
The IUCN recognizes three subspecies of elephant:
- African Savanna
- We live in the open grassland plains of sub-Saharan (South and East) Africa.
- We are the largest and tallest of the subspecies, reaching up to ten feet (three meters) at the shoulders. We can weigh up to 14,000 pounds (6,300 kg). Our ears are also bigger than the other elephants and both genders sport tusks.
- Asian
- We live in the tropical rainforests in Indian and Southeast Asia.
- We are the mid-sized elephants, reaching nine feet (2.7 meters) at the shoulder and weighing up to 10,000 pounds (4,500 kg.). Our ears are much smaller and rounder than African elephant’s ears. And while only our males have tusks, females may grow tushes (small tusks).
- Some enterprising Asian elephants stop traffic to extract a toll of sugar cane from trucks moving produce. They mostly target large shipments while leaving smaller hauls alone.
- African Forest
- We hail from the rainforests of West Africa’s Congo Basin.
- We are the smallest subspecies with adult males standing eight feet (2.4 meters) at the shoulder. Our ears are slightly smaller than African savanna elephant’s ears. Both genders have tusks which are harder, yellower, and straighter than African savanna elephants.
- We are much shyer than the other two subspecies. However, we do like to nosh young saplings. This habit allows larger trees to flourish and capture even more carbon, which fights climate change!
Elephant Social Structure
We are very social and don’t do well in isolation, so we females live in family groups with our calves while adult males spend their time congregating in bachelor herds.
Family Groups
Family lies at the core of our social structure. For me, this includes my darling daughters, precious grandchildren, sweet sister, and delightful nieces and nephews. I am tightly bonded with all twelve of them. Cooperation and cohesion are our way of life. Peace usually prevails among us, which is a good thing since we spend nearly three-quarters of our time together. Even when we’re apart, we stay closely connected and are quick to come to one another’s aid in times of crisis.
Continuous Communications
As an adult female, I maintain nearly continuous contact with my family and extended family, and I can recognize the calls of more than 100 friends and family members. This helps us maintain solidarity even when we’re not physically together.
Rumbles are our primary way of communicating, carrying as far as six miles (ten kilometers). When we sense our extended family approaching, we turn to face them, ready with a warm welcome.
My family maintains long-term alliances with five other family groups, which are led by my cousins and aunts. When I was younger, we lived as one herd, but as we got older and our numbers grew, we split into smaller matrilineal units to ensure everyone could get enough to eat. Together, we form a bond group of fifty members. We remain close to each other during the dry season and spend time together in the wet season. When we meet up, we trumpet and rumble loudly, press against each other and use our trunks to touch each other’s mouths and faces. As we catch up on what’s been happening, our calves play and generally get underfoot.
Lifestyles of the Other Elephants
We savannah elephants reside in the largest groups and come and go from our bond group as a family. Asian elephants have a more fluid society, with herd members coming and going as individuals. Their herds range from two to ten members. Forest elephants live in even smaller groups because their forest homes limit movement. Often a single adult female with her dependent calves will form a group.
Bachelor Herds
Males live with their family group until around their tenth birthday. While they continue to visit us after that, they prefer to live with their friends. When younger males congregate, they may become aggressive with each other and even with other species like rhinos. But the bachelor herd is usually led by an older bull who provides a calming presence for the younger ones while he shows them how to be an adult male.
Lifestyles of the Other Elephants
Like savanna elephants, male forest elephants also spend time in bachelor herds. Male Asian elephants are usually solitary.
Starting around their twenty-fifth year, the guys annually enter a hormone-fueled state called musth. It lasts a few days when they are younger and extends as they age. It’s easy to sense when this is happening because they secrete musky-smelling liquid from a spot on their temples and dribble urine – a display which keeps us ladies enamored! While in musth, males follow family groups to seek out receptive females. If they encounter another mature bull in their size range, a fight will likely ensue, with the conflict ranging from several hours to several days. Once they are out of musth, they return to their friends.
BEE-ware!
The guys have a much higher risk tolerance than us ladies and are more inclined to raid community farms. Some nonprofits have taken advantage of our instinct to run from the sound of buzzing by installing hives around farmland to deter us from sampling the produce. Rude!
When we hear bees, we gather our young ones in the center of a circle, with the adults all facing outward. We do the same in the case of an earthquake.
Growing Up Elephant
In the Beginning
Mama and I were surrounded by my aunties when I was born. They immediately helped me to my feet, and while I was on the wobbly side, I was walking within the hour. That day, I proudly stood three feet (one meter) tall and weighed 260 pounds (120 kilograms). My aunties also guided me to start nursing. I would drink five gallons (20 liters) of milk each day and gain 30 pounds (thirteen kilograms) each week!
As a baby, I was always within close range of Mama. We were usually touching, or I was positioned directly beneath her – it was safe there and the shade was awesome too. She made continuous soft humming “aauurrr” sounds to comfort me.
While I was in regular contact with Mama, the rest of the herd took care of me too. Like you humans say, it takes a village! I was able to spend time with Grammy who was our matriarch then. And my aunties and cousins were always nearby, ready to help me should I need it. And I often did! Sometimes I got lost in the tall grass and one of my older cousins would need to extract me. Other times, I wouldn’t hear Grammy’s “let’s go” call and would get left behind. When I realized I was by myself, I would start screaming my “lost-baby” cry and one of my aunties would quickly return to escort me back to the herd.
Fancy Twirling Device
When I was little, I regularly tripped over my trunk. I couldn’t control my floppy appendage but often twirled it around to test it out. At one point, Mama tried to transfer water from her trunk to mine. It made me sputter so I spewed it out. She tried several times but eventually realized I was not ready for such a sophisticated move and put the water directly into my mouth. When I drank water on my own, I used my mouth.
By the time I was six months old, I was starting to experiment with solid foods like the grasses, leaves, and sticks I could pick up with my fancy twirling device, a.k.a. my trunk. I’d also reach into Mama’s mouth to take a bit of her food while I was learning what to eat. And by the time I was one year old, I could use my trunk to grasp, eat, drink, and bathe, just like the big elephants could!
Nursery Group
After my second birthday, Mama spent a little time apart from the herd in the company of a large male. It was the first time we were not in continuous contact, and I was so glad when she came back to me. I noticed that she started gaining some weight after that. Spoiler alert! She was pregnant with my sweet sister, Mumbi!
Within the year, Mama cut me off from the milk bar and I started spending more time with other calves my age like Hashiki. Our nursery group included boys and girls, but the boys played a little rough for my liking. They preferred pushing contests and sometimes their shoving got out of hand so one of the nearby aunties would have to break it up. Hashiki and I preferred the perennial female favorite of chasing away egrets. (Those pesky birds were always around, seeking the insects we stirred up as we grazed.)
The Babysitter’s Club
Sweet Mumbi was finally born when I was four. We were close from the beginning, and I got to babysit her when Mama was otherwise occupied. As I got older, I felt so important because I was the preferred babysitter for a successive string of my younger cousins. I enjoyed laying on the ground and letting them clamber over me like a living jungle gym.
Life continued in this very pleasurable manner until I was ten years old. Then Grammy died. She was in her 70’s and had lived a good long life but I was still so sad to lose her. Because the herd had gotten rather large under her leadership, both Mama and my oldest auntie stepped in as matriarchs for a newly divided herd. Mumbi, me and our younger auntie and her kids, including Hashiki, stayed with Mama while my other cousins went with their mother. As Mama’s oldest daughter, I knew I would eventually follow in her footsteps, so I carefully watched how she led us to food and water.
Elephant Communications – Let’s Go Call
The let’s go rumble initiates a change in behavior. The matriarch begins by emitting the short but sonorous call, and the rest of the adults echo it. It’s hard to miss but sometimes babies don’t pay much attention to the group dynamic.
Adulting, Elephant Style
Motherhood Suits Me
When I was eighteen, I noticed that some very handsome older males were following my family. They were in musth but were always gentle and courteous to us. Then one day during the rainy season, one of males separated me from my herd for a few days of consorting. He moved on to another family after that, and I returned to my family. They celebrated my union with loud calls, and I followed suit with my own trumpets.
Twenty-two months later, little Toto was born and suddenly everything revolved around this new little life. Mama, Mumbi, and Hashiki surrounded me and gave me lots of reassuring touches with their trunks while I was in labor. When my baby dropped to the ground, I was a little afraid of him. But Mama showed me how to place my foot under him while steadying him with my trunk to encourage him to stand. My family trumpeted to welcome Toto to the family. They delicately touched him and celebrated by tusking up dirt and grass and then throwing the clumps in the air.
My little Toto began nursing right away. I had seen Mama lower herself to make it easier for a newborn to suckle so I followed her lead. The rest of the family was nearby, and we rejoined them the following day to set off on our constant quest for food and water. Mama paced the group so that Toto could keep up and we all took turns nudging him forward.
Toto proved to be a lot like me as a youngster. Although he was very even-tempered and calm for a bull, he often got distracted. One time he was playing with the other babies in our bond group and was so engrossed in their games that he didn’t realize we had left. When he did take notice, he screamed his “lost-baby” cry at the top of his lungs. Hashiki and I raced back for him and when he saw us, he ran as fast as his little legs could carry him! Reunited and it felt so good!
One time, something scary happened. The family was at a watering hole and my precious baby slipped into the water. The sides were slick and steep so he couldn’t get out. Mama and I tried to pull him up with our trunks but couldn’t. We went into the water with him to push him up the bank while Hashiki and Mumbi tried to pull but it was no use. While I tried to keep him calm, Mama went to work on the bank and just as Toto had expended the last of his energy, she had a ramp ready so he could walk out. We all touched him with our trunks then to let him know he was safe.
When Toto was two years old, I again spent a few days with an older male in musth. I knew what to expect this time and twenty-two months later my baby girl Korbessa was born. Toto was an excellent big brother. He’d been weaned for about a year at that point and was starting to spend more time with his age-mates. But he always made time for his fiery little sister and even though she was smaller than him, she was the perennial boss. He willingly ceded anything to her.
And so, life moved happily forward. I had a new calf to dote on every four years and enjoyed bonding with the adults in my family. But when I was in my 40’s, tragedy struck. The dry season was the hardest it had ever been. Our most vulnerable family members suffered the most. We lost all our young calves, and our elders were also affected. One day, Mama fell to the ground. Mumbi and I immediately rushed to her side. We lifted her back to her feet with our trunks and tusks, but she fell again. She was too weak to stand. We stayed with her until the end. And even after that, we remained nearby for the next week while our extended family visited the body. I was so sad to lose her, but I was now the matriarch and had to concentrate on moving the group forward.
Matriarchy
The family now looks to me as their leader. I was ready because Mama had transferred knowledge of where and when specific foods could be found, when it is edible, how to get to fruit-bearing trees, and how to sniff out water. Going forward, it would be up to me to decide where to travel and when to rest and basically take charge of every situation in which my family found itself. And so, I took up the matriarch’s position at the rear of our line and prepared to lead us into the future.
Elephant Communications – Trumpets
When we trumpet, we are expressing our excitement, like about new family members! When we’re really emotional, we may also secrete liquid from the gland in our temples.
A Typical Day for Me as an Adult
As the head of the family, I maintain our relatively slow pace. Most of the day (eighteen hours) is spent eating with adults each consuming 200-300 pounds (90-140 kilograms) of food. As the heat peaks, we travel to water and later we may spend a few hours resting. While our itinerary remains constant, where we are and how far we travel each day depends on the season.
Dry Season
During the June to October and December through March Kenyan dry seasons, water is hard to find. We hover near the remaining sources and travel shorter distances to forage. For food, we use our tusks to peel bark off trees and may push over trees to get to the leaves in the upper branches or to eat the roots. (Branches are also a handy tool to fan ourselves or scratch our backs!)
Tusk
Our tusks can be used for foraging, digging for water, or scratching an itch. We are either right- or left-tusked, with the dominant tusk being shorter due to wear and tear. We unfortunately cannot use them to listen to Fleetwood Mac.
As the heat of the day approaches, I gather the family to find water by emitting a loud “assembly call”. We line up in an orderly fashion with our calves in the middle and our elders at the rear. On good days, we find water to drink our typical 20-50 gallons (75-200 liters). We also bathe, coating ourselves in a thick layer of mud to stay cooler and protect our skin from the sun and biting insects. On days when water is scarce, we patiently wait our turn to drink—respect and order come naturally to us.
In the times of drought, we may need to sniff out water in dry stream beds. We can smell it up to twelve miles (19.2 kilometers) away with our keen sense of smell. Once we find it, and we always do, we dig in the sand with a front foot and wait for the water to seep into the hole. Everyone waits patiently for the water to accumulate, and we are all careful not to collapse the hole.
After we drink and bathe, we go back to eating. Once everyone is sated, we may rest for a few hours by leaning against a tree or a friend. As matriarch, though, I need to remain alert to any possible threats and often stay awake for several days in a row. One way that I keep track of our surroundings is through the large pads inside the bottoms of my front feet with seismic wave receptors. They allow me to detect anyone within 20 miles (32 kilometers) and to know how far away they are. It also allows me to “hear” the storms that herald the beginning of the wet season, allowing us the distinction of always being the first animals to arrive at our wet season grounds.
Wet Season
As soon as the storms commence, I gather the family for the 100-mile (160-kilometer) journey back to our wet season territory. Although it only runs from April to May and again in November-December, the wet season is so much easier, and the rains make us jaunty and happy.
Our general pattern for the day remains the same: feed, drink, bathe, eat more, then rest. But during these times of plenty, we consume our favorite grasses and sleep in the bush-thickened hills where we are safer. From there, we commute five miles (eight kilometers) to the marshes every day. If someone in the herd wants to feed or bathe in a certain place, she assumes the “let’s go” stance by standing at the edge of the group and facing in the direction she’d like to go. She rumbles the proposal and as others agree, they point in the same direction. While any adult member may suggest a destination, it is ultimately my choice. But during the wet season, I’m down for whatever the herd wants to do.
Sometimes we’ll be on our way to one feeding ground when we hear another family close by and decide to join them. Because food is plentiful, the land can support more of us and we are able to spend time with our extended family and friends. As we approach, one of us will rumble “I am here. Where are you?”. Our family will rumble back to say, “It’s me. I’m over here.” We’ll exchange these messages until we meet up.
Trunk Show
We’ve got a lot of suction in our trunks and can siphon up 1.5 gallons (7.5 liters) of water at a time. Then we squirt the water into our mouths to drink or across our backs to bathe. Or when we’re feeling silly, we spray each other.
Lest you think that our lives are rather serious, I should mention that in addition to getting yummy food and seeing family, we also play more during the wet season. I still like to charge those silly egrets and model natural headgear. And sometimes for the fun of it, I run in a loose way while shaking my head to let my ears and trunk flop around. Other times, the whole family is silly as a group, like when we get the zoomies and all start running around and trumpeting. Good times!
Elephant Communications – Putting It All Together
Rumbles can be used with other vocals such as a roar. For example, when we’re separated from our group we use a rumble-roar-rumble combination. If you’d like to hear what our specific communications sound like check out the Hello in Elephant translation tool.
How You Can Help Us
If you’d like to help us elephants, I have a few suggestions. Nearly 20,000 of us are killed annually for our tusks, so one of the best ways to help us is to fund rangers who can watch over us. When the deceased is an adult female, her calf will also die unless he or she is cared for by one of your groups that help our orphans. We’ve also lost much of our native habitat, so supporting groups that are trying to save land for us or connect existing spaces with corridors also helps. You could also support groups that are trying to diffuse human-elephant conflict, like the ones that put up those beehives. Finally, you can also limit your carbon footprint to help reduce climate change.
Returning the Favor
Since you’re considering helping us, I’d like to return the favor. We elephants maintain continuous communication with our friends and family. It’s the key to our strong relationships. Be sure you’re in close touch with your loved ones! We also maintain a very polite society by both being kind to our friends and expecting the same in return. If you are kind to others, they will follow your lead. And lastly, it’s always nice to take your time and enjoy your meals.
For more information on elephants, read Elephant Sense and Sensibility by Michael Garstang. If you’d like to see elephants, many zoos showcase this popular species. African elephants can be viewed at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park and North Caroline Zoo or viewed via webcam at the San Diego Zoo. Asian elephants can be seen at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo or the Oregon Zoo or viewed via webcam at the Smithsonian Zoo. Internationally, the Chobe National Park in Kenya and the Khao Yai National Park in Thailand have strong reputations.
Special thanks to Michelle Szydlowski, PhD, of Miami University for serving as our elephant expert.
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