[Animals] Young elephants are more likely to survive if their grandmother is still in the herd

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Grandmothers play a critical role in caring for young elephants. An investigation showed that they are key to the survival of the species.
When a female elephant becomes a mother for the first time, her entire herd shelters her and closely follows the birth of the new calf. From that moment on, the mother will never be alone in the upbringing: grandmothers and youngsters will be there.

Within minutes of her birth, an elephant is able to stand. While the mother recovers, the rest of the females help support her and show her the way to nurse. The 'little ones' are born weighing around 100 to 150 kilograms.

Elephants live in a matriarchal society. Herds are almost always female, with a long-lived female leader; it is common for mothers and daughters to have young at the same time and raise them in the group. In the case of males, they become independent when they reach adulthood, and can choose to belong to a group or wander alone.

New scientific findings have shown that young elephants are more likely to survive the environment if their grandmother is still in the herd.

You can also read: They discover why elephants carry the corpses of their dead children

Elephant grandmothers are 'repositories of knowledge'

Phyllis Lee, a researcher at the University of Stirling, and her team analyzed data from 60 pachyderm families and 834 wild African elephants living in Kenya's Amboseli National Park. This po[CENSORED]tion had been observed for more than 40 years until the publication of the study in 2016.

In the behavior of the females, they found that in large herds, it is common for up to three generations of breeding females to exist at the same time. The presence of a mother reproducing simultaneously with her daughter was associated with greater survival of the offspring of the latter.

“THE SOCIAL ADVANTAGES OF LONGEVITY ARE CLEAR FOR ELEPHANTS; OLDER FEMALES ACT AS RESERVOIRS OF KNOWLEDGE, ACTIVELY FARMING CALVES, PROVIDING PROTECTION AND SOCIAL COHESION, EVEN WHILE CARING FOR THEIR OWN CALVES, AND THE EARLY SURVIVAL OF CALVES IS ENHANCED BY THE PRESENCE OF A GRANDMOTHER IN A FAMILY” , MENTION THE STUDY ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY AND SOCIOBIOLOGY.

It has been documented that while the mother looks for food, the long-lived or young females take care of the young. She also shows him the safe paths, what plants to eat and how to get to them. When the specimens are still small, the matriarch lightens the pace of the march so that everyone can keep up.

The offspring also learn from their grandmothers to avoid danger and stay safe from predators and, as if that were not enough, they build affectionate relationships that generate positive bonds between them.

 In addition to the environmental conditions, the offspring depend on the maternal experience, on the care and learning of the older ones to build early experiences.

“MATERNAL LONGEVITY WITHIN FAMILIES IMPROVED DAUGHTER SURVIVAL TO REPRODUCTIVE AGE AND APPEARED TO INCREASE RATHER THAN DECREASE THE REPRODUCTIVE RATE OF THEIR DAUGHTERS, AS PREDICTED FOR UNITS OF FEMALE RELATIVES, WHERE GRANDMOTHERS CONTRIBUTE TO INFORMATION SHARING ”, EXPOSED PHYLLIS LEE.

How often do elephants give birth?

Females usually start reproducing at the age of 12, and in a later period, up to 15. 95% of fertility is completed before the age of 50, and in the following 16 years there is a decline in their reproductive capacity. Despite this, reproduction does not stop until they are over 65 years old.

Most have their first calf at 14 years old, and it can take between four to five years for the next one to be born. During the 70 years that they usually live with enough food, African elephants can have between 4 and 5 calves, other estimates mention that they can be between 7 and 12 years.

The gestation period lasts about 22 months. When a calf is born, they nurse it, usually, until a new one arrives. Thus the grandmothers begin a new cycle of instruction and care.

https://www.ngenespanol.com/animales/los-elefantes-jovenes-tienen-mas-probabilidades-de-sobrevivir-si-su-abuela-aun-esta-en-la-manada/