Advanced Elephant Societies Use Physical Affection To Isolate, Distress One Another -The Toast

Skip to the article, or search this site

Home: The Toast

elephantA university research team conducting a decade-long study on several group of Asian and African elephants revealed that, much like humans, elephants often manipulate and isolate distressed individuals by withholding common, everyday physical touches or pointedly refusing to vocalize.

This is the first empirical evidence of calculated indifference in elephant society.

The targeted elephant, often bewildered by its sudden (and often unjustified) abandonment, will roar, bellow, or emit a series of low-frequency growls in order to call to its former mates, unaware that its isolation is targeted and personal rather than accidental. The rest of the herd responds to this behavior by conspicuously and ostentatiously displaying affectionate behavior like nuzzling and trunk-twirling directly in front of the afflicted individual, just to rub it in.

An unrelated scientific study in India concluded that elephants are capable of physically and verbally consoling their friends and family in times of great pain or distress, much as humans do, often using comforting gestures in order to calm down a grieving individual. 

Occasionally, however, and for no discernible reason, the herd will walk past a bereaved or suffering member and coldly refuse to make eye contact or touch it in any way.

This is not the only human-like behavior observed in elephant groups in recent years. Several elephants in captivity have been known to paint crude but effective group elephant portraits, often carefully and deliberately excluding a single member of the herd from the sketch.

Researchers believe there is no psycho-social benefit to such behavior and consider it an act of willful, pointless malice. Elephants are widely known for their powerful and long-reaching memories, and almost certainly carry the emotional scars of such bewildering, purposeless exclusion to their elephant graves.

Add a comment

Skip to the top of the page, search this site, or read the article again