Orphaned elephants manage to get over the loss of their mother by living in a herd, underscoring the importance of a social life for the species, according to a study.
Scientists investigated the consequences of the death of a mother elephant for her child by examining the levels of stress hormones in the faeces of 37 young elephants in Kenya between 2015 and 2016.
Among the young elephants, 25 had lost their mothers to poaching or drought between one and 19 years previously.
Of the 25 orphans, 20 remained in the same family unit after their mother’s death, while five joined an unrelated group.
The researchers found that stress hormones in the orphans and the other elephants remained at similar levels over the long term, although the former should show more stress symptoms without maternal care.
Any stress among the orphans didn’t last long, showing their “resilience” and the impact of social support from the other elephants, said Jenna Parker, lead author of the study, published this week in the journal Communications Biology.
The importance of family ties is evident when observing herds of elephants, Parker told AFP.
The cubs rarely stray more than 10 meters from their mother, and “incredible” reunions of the entire group were observed after a few hours of separation, said the researcher at Colorado State University in the United States.
When poachers or hunters kill an elephant, that social cohesion breaks down and threatens the welfare of the group, particularly the orphaned young, she said.
It is believed that the bond between a baby elephant and its mother is strong even after they are weaned.
– ‘Playmates’ –
Parker and her colleagues studied how orphaned elephants felt by measuring the amount of hormones they release when they are stressed.
The hormones are found in blood, saliva, urine and feces. The last option was chosen as the most reliable and widely used way to measure stress in wildlife because it’s noninvasive, Parker said.
Only the droppings of young females between the ages of two and 20 years at Samburu and Buffalo Springs reserves in northern Kenya have been used, with males being less easy to track down as they are less attached to their original herd.
Scientists also found lower levels of stress in young elephants raised in groups with more animals of a similar age, suggesting that ‘playmates’ are essential for them.
Findings could guide orphanages to provide peer companions to help orphaned elephants.
The study also concluded that releasing groups of orphaned elephants together after they have been mated during captivity could ease their transition to life in the wild.
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