Elephants appear to have excellent because they can remember large sections of their territory.

The social structure of elephants is complex, varying by gender, and population dynamics. Adult elephants form matriarchal (female-led) societies. Adult males are usually solitary.

Males

Adult male elephants are solitary in nature but may associate with other bulls (adult males) in small, unstable groups. Males will leave the family unit (natal unit) between 12 and 15 years of age.

Bulls that associate in small groupings have a hierarchal-ranking social structure. Leaders, determined by age and strength, protect the front and rear of the herd. More docile (quiet-natured) bulls do not seek leadership roles, but serve as stabilizing members within the group. Hierarchical roles are re-established and re-adjusted whenever a male leaves or enters the group.

Although primarily solitary in nature, bulls will associate with non-natal family units (family units to which they are not related). Bulls do not have preferences for specific family units and will randomly move to different groupings daily and even hourly looking for reproductively receptive females. The bulls' nomadic (wandering) social system allows them to maximize reproductive potential. With this system, a single bull can potentially find up to 30 mates in a year, as opposed to fathering four calves in three years, if he associates with only one family unit

Females

Female social structure is similar to concentric rings, with the innermost circle comprising a family unit of related adult cows (females). Family units range in size from three to 25 individuals; including the eldest, most dominant female called the matriarch, her adult daughters, and their calves, and a number of juveniles. From this stable core, the groupings widen to include less familiar individuals.

Matriarchs / Hierarchy Status

The oldest, most dominant female is called the matriarch. The matriarch is the backbone of the elephant family unit because she provides stability and determines ranging patterns for the rest of the family.

The other females comprising the family unit are usually the matriarch's daughters and their offspring. The hierarchal ranking for these females is based on leadership, experience, and age. Generally, the older the female, the higher her ranking.

The primary function of elephant family units is the protection and rearing of calves. Adult females cooperate in the assistance of calf movements, foraging, protection, and social experiences. Calf survivability greatly increases with an increased number of females taking care of them.

Elephant family units may have consistent, friendly interactions with other units. These associated families are called kin or bond groups and will mingle, feed, and interact with one another frequently. Bond groups may be composed of unrelated females or of related.

Under ideal environmental circumstances, family units may congregate in groups of up to six families. Occasionally, there may be herd aggregations ranging in size from 500 to 1,000 individuals around watering holes and other consolidated resources. Herd aggregations have also been documented in areas of intense poaching (illegal hunting) pressure.

Large congregations of elephants occur more frequently with African elephants than Asian. In regions with less food, smaller elephant family units are found. In regions with abundant food, larger social groups are formed.

Social Behavior

Dominance

Bulls assess each other’s strength through sparring or play-fighting. The level of dominance is closely related to a bull's size, power, and weight. As bulls mature, these characteristics increase.

Bulls that are in musth are particularly dominant and non-musth bulls and younger males avoid confrontations with them. Refer to musth section.

Mourning Behavior

The complex nature of elephant social structure is extended into the mourning behavior for deceased companions. When elephants come across deceased remains of other elephants, a silent pause is taken, as the remains are touched with their trunks. Occasionally tusks or bones are carried with them, as the herd continues to travel.

Home Range

Elephants are not territorial. The home range is between 10 and 70 km2 (four to 27 mi.2) and possibly larger, depending on herd size and seasonality.

Individual Behavior

Musth

Elephants have a musth gland located just beneath the skin's surface, halfway between the eye and ear, on each side of their head.

Annually, musth glands secrete a dark, oily, musky substance and become inflamed. This physiological change is associated with a behavior observed in male elephants called musth, and is characterized by unpredictable, dominant, and excitable behavior.

The musth period lasts between several days to several months. There is no seasonal pattern with musth. Bulls come into it a different times.

Male elephants first experience musth about three years after sexual maturity (between eight and 15 years of age) is reached. The musth secretion increases gradually until the bulls reach their 40's, after which, it declines in strength and intensity.

Female African elephants experience a much less intense form of musth. It is thought that the scent of the secretion primarily helps unify the herd. Musth has not been documented in Asian female elephants.

Bulls in musth display a significant change in behavior and deep vocabulary of sounds, which signals strength and virility. These bulls will dominate a herd and are aggressive in warding off rivals. Musth males may rub secretions onto trees to scent-mark (signal to other males) their areas of dominance.

Bathing / Dusting

Bathing appears to be pleasurable and is essential to elephants. The trunks are used like a hose to spray water across the body. To help protect the skin from parasites and biting insects, elephants wallow in mud or spray dust on their wet skin. Once the mud and dust is dry, elephants rub against a hard surface, removing most parasites.

Sleeping

Elephants sleep about approximately four hours a night. About two hours of that are spent standing. During deep sleep, individuals lie on their sides, breathing noisily, and sometimes snoring.

Gait

A top speed of 30 kmh (18 mph.) over short distances has been recorded for elephants.

Elephants have been described as having an ambling (easy-going) walk at a normal rate of six to eight kmh (3.6 to 4.8 mph.).

Trials of Strength

Young, strong bulls test strength by pushing over trees. A 45 cm (18 in.) circumference tree can easily be pushed over with just the head, trunk, or foreleg.

While many strong bulls like to test strength by pushing over trees, only one or two bulls in a group will make it a specialty. Skilled bulls can bring down trees as large as 150 cm (5 ft.) in circumference.

Activity

Elephants are crepuscular in nature, primarily active at dawn and dusk (twilight hours) when the environment is cooler.

Elephants have such great memory because they have a very large brain. They have a highly developed hippocampus and cerebral cortex, which is responsible for willpower and problem-solving. It is due to these brain qualities of elephants that grants them such amazing memories.

One of the most well-behaved creatures of the wild, elephants, make a powerful impression on anyone that encounters one. Enormous in size and amusing in appearance, elephants have been loved by people from all walks of life for generations. And why shouldn’t they be? They are extremely smart animals, as we’ll explain shortly.

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Elephant Memory

It is often said that elephants never forget a thing. Although this is not entirely true (it’s certainly not true for humans), it is true that elephants have superb memories. However, let me tell you, having a great memory is just one part of the many exciting attributes of elephants.

An elephant has a very large brain. In fact, out of all land mammals, an elephant’s brain is the biggest. To add to this, elephants have a great encephalization quotient. Encephalization is defined as the amount of brain mass related to an animal’s total body mass. In 335 B.C. Aristotle claimed that, “of all the animals, man has the largest brain in proportion to his size”, which is accurate. Humans have an EQ of 7.44, dolphins have 5.31 and elephants have an EQ of 1.87, which is pretty impressive.

An elephants’ EQ is close to that of chimpanzees, and since humans are close relatives of the latter, the brains of humans and elephants are remarkably similar in many aspects. They have a highly developed hippocampus and cerebral cortex, which is responsible for willpower and problem-solving. It is due to these brain qualities of elephants that grants them such amazing memories.

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An Impressive Power of Recollection

By using experiences that are stored in its brain as memories, an elephant is able to handle many dangerous situations that might appear in future. For instance, if they survived a drought in childhood, then they would be able to sense the danger of drought in a particular area (basically making a mental connection with the childhood memory ingrained in its brain). This is the reason why clans of elephants that have a high number of old members have higher survival rates.

Elephants are also able to recognize all the members of their own clan. This helps them avoid getting lost in unknown herds. They can recall important places (like potential sources of food and water), even if they had not been there for many years – even decades. Elephants not only remember their clan members, but also other creatures who have left a strong impression on them. For instance, a pair of elephants who had performed in a circus together were able to recognize each other when they met more than 20 years later! (Source). Their recognition skill is not only limited to other elephants; they are also found to bond with humans whom they had briefly met decades earlier!

Elephants Are Creative!

Apart from possessing a superb memory, elephants also boast some other amazing skills. Believe it or not, elephants are able to make sense out of basic arithmetic. For example, if you put a bunch of 10 bananas in front of an elephant and take out 2 bananas five minutes later, the elephant will sense that something mischievous has occurred.

Furthermore, elephants have astonishing means of communication. They use different body postures and vocalizations, as well as subsonic rumbles that can be heard kilometers away by other elephants.

Elephants have tremendous sensitivity to color and music. Elephants in captivity have been found to show special interest in certain types of art and painting. Therefore, the fact that there is actually an elephant band out there shouldn’t surprise you too much.

Elephants are gentlemen (and ladies) among the animals of the wild. Unfortunately, we continue to make their lives difficult through deforestation and poaching. They definitely deserve better from us, and remember, they won’t forget the way we’ve treated them.

Suggested Reading

References

1. How Stuff Works
2. Scientific American
3. Slate.com

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