Search Here

Elephant herds can adapt to the loss of a mother figure when the daughter steps into the role, according to researchers at Colorado State University. This would help to strengthen the bond among the remaining members, enabling the social structure to survive.

The study has been ongoing for 16 years in Samburu National Reserve in Kenya.

Due to increasing incidents of illegal poaching of ivory in tusks, the matriarchs in the herd---the oldest and biggest females---are preyed upon by poachers.

While poaching brings down the population, it also threatens the structure and bond of the community. However, when the daughter of the matriarch steps in, the bonding remains strong. She restructures the relationships with other elephants, based on the relationships established by the dead mother.

"The survivors maintained strong bonds through all of this, at times staying together closely for months, as if they were one single large family," said George Wittemyer, who has been studying the altered social structure of the elephants since 1997, according to Tech Times.

Due to this amazing social flexibility, the elephants' population survives the increasing poaching activities.

"The fact that elephants are socially resilient is an important and exciting finding, showing their innate resilience to this unfortunate human pressure," said Shifra Goldenberg, first author of the study, according to Live Science.

The study was published on the Dec.17, 2015 issue of the journal Current Biology.