An article described the strange patterns of elephants in genetic separation. around 240 individuals among 45 social groups were observed and genotyped at 11microsatalites and 1 mtDNA. From the study, it was found that the more related the elephants are genetically the more likely they are to form a group and stay with that group.
Another article describes the association of all-male elephant groups and their genetic relation. It was found that there was a positive genetic correlation with social groups, along with that it seems that elephants that are similar in age were more likely to not associate and from there spar. It was also found that the elephants had a somewhat social hierarchy correlated to the age of elepahtn
These finding show that the societal norms and relations among African elephants is largely determined by the age and genetic relation of those elephants.
I didn't expect much from large "dumb" animals like elephants. I just assumed they had very primitive methods of living and didn't have the capacity to gauge out familial relationships to form societal groups. I wonder if there exists a hierarchy between them; is there an alpha?
ReplyDeleteGood job on this article Usman.