Did You Know That Elephants Have Grandmothers, Unlike The Majority Of The Rest Of The Animal Kingdom?
Nov 14, 2018
For people who are fortunate enough to have the presence of their grandparents in their lives, you know how much of a blessing they can be. Grandparents can offer us things that no one else can.
Their wisdom comes from their age, and they also provide us with happiness and comfort in times of need. For a lot of people, they also got raised entirely by their grandparents.
A family doesn’t always mean just mother and father, but can also be more diverse and perhaps mean our family is our extended family like our grandparents.
Over the last forty years, the number of children being raised by their grandparents has more than doubled. It stands at around seven percent now, which means that over 5 million grandchildren are being raised by their grandparents. The truth is, everyone is lucky to have their grandparents. That includes this small guy!
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As it turns out, grandparents that are elephants are just as important! As you may know, elephants naturally live together in big families comprised of babies, young elephants, and females. Usually, these groups have a leader, which is the eldest of the females. They are looked up to by the rest of their families and have a very important role to fill.
Phyllis Lee, a professor, desired to find out more about how these groups of elephants work together. During her studies, she found out some interesting information. The presence of a grandmother in a baby elephants life had a large impact on whether the baby survived or not. Lee decided that although the conclusion was unexpected, it’s true.
Having a grandmother present in a baby elephant’s life really took a toll on the survival rate of these infants!
It’s an interesting fact that only a few species of animals, including humans, other primates, whale sand elephants, are lucky enough to live life spans where they get to have their grandparents around. For tons of species, having babies is their entire life. This means that they only cease having more children when it’s time for them to pass on.
This means that elephants are rare and special, able to live long past their reproductive years. They live until they are around seventy years old, which means that they are one of the only species able to live until they have grandchildren around.
Even if animals are able to live until they have grandchildren, they don’t always have a bond. Many species will even fight their own mother over shared resources. But not elephants, who seem to be kind and supportive to each other. However, this only applies to the grandmothers of elephants.
Grandfather elephants seem to wander off on their own once they reach the age of puberty and don’t have a unique role in the family like the women.
In fact, grandmother elephants will even protect their grandchildren, keep track of where they go, and help them out when they are in trouble. They are often the leader of the pack, leading their family around in order to find areas where they can safely drink, forage and survive.
Lee’s findings come from a study of over 800 elephants residing in Amboseli National Park, located in Kenya. The study took place over a period of four decades! They seek to have another 40 years of data before they come out with any sound conclusions.
These studies are important because they can also provide information about our own species. In fact, we can learn about why women go through menopause from studies such as this. But research such as this only goes to show that animal families can be just as important and complex as those of humans.
Next time you see your grandparents or know someone who was raised by them, you can remind them that they grew up just like an elephant! Do you have any important grandparent figures in your life?