Since I was a boy growing up in Africa I have heard that elephants “never forget.”
Their reputation for remembering may be based in part on their habit of visiting and seemingly mourning the dried bones of their relatives.
Elephants have long been known to teach their young the ancient knowledge they received from their elders of seasonal feeding grounds and when and how to get to them.
A few years ago National Geographic News published a story about Africa’s desert elephants that survive by following an arduous circular migration route between water holes. Leaders need to know what they’re doing. An error in timing could result in the death of the herd.
See an interactive map of this age-old desert elephant migration and read the latest news about elephant memory, in the extended entry.
The ancient elephant migration routes in Mali, Africa, were tracked by satellite by Iain Douglas-Hamilton. Read the story that goes with this map.
Map by NGS
A new study released today suggests that experienced elephant matriarchs seem to give their family groups an advantage during famine.
The research was based on observations of calf deaths during a particularly severe African drought. Groups that had greater success in protecting their young were the ones that had the oldest females. These were also the groups that left a protected area in search of food and water, perhaps because their matriarchs remembered doing that during an equally severe drought forty years earlier.
“Our findings seem to support the hypothesis that older females with knowledge of distant resources become crucial to the survival of herds during periods of extreme climatic events,” said Wildlife Conservation Society researcher Charles Foley, lead author of the study.
Because climate change is expected to exacerbate droughts in Africa, the elephant families led by experienced females might have an evolutionary edge, suggested Nathalie Pettorelli, Zoological Society of London researcher and co-author.
We have learned so much about elephants in recent years. With each new “discovery” we realize just how advanced and sophisticated they are. That says a lot about our own ignorance.
Related National Geographic News Stories:
- Elephants “Learn” to Avoid Land Mines in War-Torn Angola
- Elephants, Human Ancestors Evolved in Synch, DNA Reveals
- In Africa, Decoding the “Language” of Elephants
- Elephants Show Special Interest in Their Dead
- Elephants “Hear” Warnings With Their Feet, Study Confirms
- Elephants Call Long-Distance After-Hours
- Dying Elephant Elicits ”Compassion”