Elephants鈥� famously long memories could be the key to their families鈥� survival, research in Kenya has revealed. A team led by Karen McComb of the University of Sussex found that the breeding success of an elephant family is linked to the age of its matriarchs.
The older, more experienced females are better at distinguishing between calls from familiar and unfamiliar herds. This reduces the time the family spends on being defensive in response to false alarms, which could allow more time for reproducing.
The finding is important, because more mature elephants are often targeted by hunters and poachers, says the researchers, led by Karen McComb of the University of Sussex in Brighton, UK.
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鈥淲e believe this to be the first statistical link between social knowledge and reproductive success in any species,鈥� McComb says. 鈥淭he results highlight the disproportionate effect the hunting and poaching of mature animals might have for elephant populations.鈥�
Fluid social system
McComb鈥檚 team studied African elephants at the Amboseli Elephant Research Project in Kenya. They broadcast elephant calls through custom-built loudspeakers in the back of their vehicle.
They found that families with matriarchs aged over 55 were several thousand times more likely to bunch together defensively in response to calls from elephants they rarely encountered, compared with calls from familiar families.
The team also found that families with matriarchs over 55 produced more calves per female.
McComb suspects that her findings might also apply to other animals, such as whales and dolphins. 鈥淥ther large animals also live in 鈥榝luid鈥� social systems where an ability to recognise friends among acquaintances might be expected to have an impact on reproductive success.鈥�
More at: Science (vol 292, p 491)