Deep voices, deep thoughts: Lieff on the lives, deaths, and discourse of giants
"Three million years ago elephants took their current form at the time of the early human ancestors in Africa ... Elephant’s brain size appeared to increase at the same time as humans (the past million years)."
"The elephant’s primary social unit is a mother, related females and children."
"It was once thought that males are loners because they wander by themselves much of the time. But, it is now known that they, also, form an elaborate network of friends and relations that last their entire life."
"Elephant communication is elaborate involving many different verbalizations—trumpets, low deep sounds, and chirps—and many different gestures—taps, nudges, kicks, caresses of the trunk, flapping ears, head movements, leaning and posturing."
"Elephants can communicate in low deep rumbles that humans cannot hear. These sounds can travel up to five miles. "
"elephants can distinguish between different human languages and the sex and age of the speaker by just hearing human speech."
"Elephants hold a council to make decisions. "
"Elephants pay special attention to any elephant bones they find—not other species. They walk very carefully to the bones, systematically investigate and caress them with their trunk, and then try to cover them with dirt and leaves. "
"Elephants mourn loved ones by returning to the body and bones of the deceased for years to place leaves and sticks on the site."
"In one incident, a group of elephants walked on a long journey to mourn a lost human friend."
"elephants are extremely aware and compassionate—frequently consoling each other."
"elephants use primarily touch, smell and sound. Sight is not as significant. "
"Elephants have an internal sense of self, an advanced sense of family, social interactions and loyalty that extends for many decades. "
" Some elephants have learned to paint—holding the brush with their trunks and dipping the brush into a variety of paint colors in bowls. "
" the way that elephants are kept in most zoos is equivalent to a prison sentence."
"Of the 300 in accredited zoos in US, 80% have behavioral ticks and most are physically ill. Studies show they live much longer when not in captivity."
"It doesn’t seem possible to keep an elephant healthy in a zoo. Most spend 80% of their time cramped indoors. They can’t sleep because they don’t like concrete. "
"It is time to protect them and release them from prisons."
http://jonlieffmd.com/blog/elephant-cultureI like elephants. As a child i spent summer holidays around a bunch of them. They were very kind to me.
sidd