Matriarchal Kingdom
Although patriarchy is often considered the default mode for human or animal societies, for some species of the animal kingdom, female leadership is the norm. One of the most fascinating qualities of elephants’ complex social structure is their matriarchal society, where older and more dominant females are the leaders who guide the herds. Matriarchs are the “social glue” that holds together intricate social networks. The matriarch and her female offspring are at the center of a dynamic, fission-fusion society. A fission-fusion society is a complex network of interconnected groups which come together (fusion) and separate (fission) at different times of the year, often based on the availability of water and food¹. Families of 2 to 16 adult females and their young interact with others in bond groups which consist of five or more families, and several bond groups may form a clan which shares a dry season home range².
One advantage to family groups lies in elephants’ alloparenting behavior, where the young are cared for as a group effort by older female relatives, who sometimes even engage in communal suckling of calves³. Calves of younger and less experienced mothers spend time with their grandmothers³. Elephants are social learners, and calves of both sexes rely on the example of adults to learn foraging, reproductive, and socially appropriate behavior⁴. The influence of matriarchs is essential to this process.
Elephants’ long lifespans allow them to develop strong bonds across several generations. Elephants can live up to 70 years, similar to the average human lifespan³. Matriarchs remain fertile for many years and continue reproduction until after 65 years of age, simultaneously raising their own calves and grandmothering others. Instead of being competitive with their daughters, the presence of matriarchs increases the early survival rate of their daughters’ calves⁵.Older matriarchs have been found to support larger family groups than younger ones⁶. The older and more established a matriarch, the more valuable she is to her herd. A 2008 study by Charles Foley and associates⁷ suggests that the matriarch’s memory of distant food and water sites can help a herd survive difficult seasons and adapt to the age of climate change. When a severe drought hit Tarangire National Park in Tanzania, herds with older matriarchs had lower calf mortality⁷. Older matriarchs have been found to better discriminate between predatory threats. In a 2011 study, they were better able to distinguish between the calls of female and male lions, responding to the larger and more dangerous male lions by bunching their herd together, protecting the more vulnerable members of the group and moving as a united front⁸.
Now, the influence of matriarchs has taken on a greater urgency. After adult males, matriarchs often have the largest tusks — a draw for poachers⁹. Poaching disrupts the social structure, and evidence suggests that the trauma haunts young elephants for the rest of their lives. Elephants who witnessed the death of their elders are at a higher risk for hyper-aggression, infant rejection, and overall elevated levels of stress hormones¹⁰. Researchers played back recordings of other elephants and compared the response in orphaned herds (calves whose matriarchs were culled) in Pilanesberg National Park in South Africa with non-orphaned herds in Amboseli National Park in Kenya. Scientists wanted to observe how growing up without a matriarch would influence their decision-making abilities. While the Amboseli elephants demonstrated a coordinated defensive response after hearing unfamiliar elephants, the Pilanesberg orphans seemed confused and assessed the threat inappropriately, particularly underestimating the threat posed by the sounds of older, dominant elephants¹¹. These elephants might pass on this abnormal behavior to their offspring, weakening the herd. As the Pilanesberg-Amboseli study illustrates, navigating complex social interactions is vital to survival in a highly social species like elephants¹¹. In a healthy herd, matriarchs would teach younger elephants social etiquette and how to deal with intraspecies conflict.
Enriched by years of experience, matriarchs are a memory bank of ecological knowledge. The loss of a matriarch not only traumatizes the herd, it puts them at a disadvantage when confronting enemies, foraging for food, or navigating an environmental crisis. To be effective, conservation programs may not only need to focus on preserving the wild population of elephants, but also on rebuilding social structure¹¹. Prioritizing the health of matriarchs will be crucial to the survival of the species as elephants face an uncertain future.
References:
¹ Fishlock, Vicki, and Phyllis C. Lee. “Forest elephants: fission–fusion and social arenas.” Animal Behaviour 85, no. 2 (2013): 357–363.
² Poole, Joyce. “Elephants Are Socially Complex.” Elephant Voices. Elephant Voices. Accessed October 7, 2019. https://www.elephantvoices.org/elephant-sense-a-sociality-4/elephants-are-socially-complex.html.
³ Poole, Joyce. “Elephants Are Long-Lived.” Elephant Voices. Elephant Voices. Accessed October 7, 2019. https://www.elephantvoices.org/elephant-sense-a-sociality-4/elephants-are-long-lived.html.
⁴ Poole, Joyce. “Elephants Learn from Others.” Elephant Voices. Elephant Voices. Accessed October 7, 2019. https://www.elephantvoices.org/elephant-sense-a-sociality-4/elephants-learn-from-others.html.
⁵ Moss, C. J., and P. C. Lee. “Female reproductive strategies: individual life histories.” The Amboseli elephants: a long-term perspective on a long-lived mammal 280 (2011): 187–204.
⁶ Wittemyer, George, Iain Douglas-Hamilton, and Wayne Marcus Getz. “The socioecology of elephants: analysis of the processes creating multitiered social structures.” Animal behaviour 69, no. 6 (2005): 1357–1371.
⁷ Foley, Charles, Nathalie Pettorelli, and Lara Foley. “Severe drought and calf survival in elephants.” Biology letters 4, no. 5 (2008): 541–544.
⁸ McComb, Karen, Graeme Shannon, Sarah M. Durant, Katito Sayialel, Rob Slotow, Joyce Poole, and Cynthia Moss. “Leadership in elephants: the adaptive value of age.” Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 278, no. 1722 (2011): 3270–3276.
⁹ “Effects of Poaching on African Elephants.” Center for Conservation Biology. University of Washington. Accessed October 7, 2019. https://conservationbiology.uw.edu/research-programs/effects-of-poaching-on-african-elephants/.
¹⁰ Bradshaw, Gay A., Allan N. Schore, Janine L. Brown, Joyce H. Poole, and Cynthia J. Moss. “Elephant breakdown.” Nature 433, no. 7028 (2005): 807.
¹¹ Shannon, Graeme, Rob Slotow, Sarah M. Durant, Katito N. Sayialel, Joyce Poole, Cynthia Moss, and Karen McComb. “Effects of social disruption in elephants persist decades after culling.” Frontiers in zoology 10, no. 1 (2013): 62.
