Scientist at Work Blog: A New Elephant Generation

Caitlin O?Connell-Rodwell, who teaches at the Stanford University School of Medicine, writes from Etosha National Park in Namibia, where she is studying elephant societies.

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Monday, July 9

For the past eight seasons we?ve watched the elephant we know as Greg reign over the Mushara Boys? Club, even after two very wet years when an abundance of drinking water and more places to drink caused a splintering of the members. After a regrouping of club members in the drier years, Greg was back on top of the hierarchy as if nothing had changed. We thought the extreme challenge of a severe wound to the trunk in 2010 was the beginning of the end of his reign, but he surprised us last season, having fully recovered both his fitness and his top position.

This morning, on our eighth day in camp this season, the wind was howling, and there was still no sign of Greg. The last two nights were bitterly cold, and there was a rain shower the night before. I have begun to expect the unexpected during a season that has seen an upset of the Boys? Club. Abe, our second-ranking bull, came in for the second time last evening without Greg, which I have to accept might be a pattern for the season. Abe doesn?t wear his heart on his sleeve, as Keith does, so it was hard to tell if he was missing his don and bosom buddy, but I felt the sting of seeing him appear at the edge of the clearing without Greg. And since he?s not a loner, it was all the stranger for him to show up on his own.

After Keith?s performance two nights ago, rumbling, listening and searching, rumbling and searching, placing his trunk on the ground in one direction, freezing, then repositioning in another direction, I decided that setting up our acoustic equipment had to be the next highest priority. I wanted to record his vocal rumblings, made seemingly in search of Greg. I saw the opportunity to compare this calling behavior with that of a ?let?s go? rumble. It was also a chance to get a signature recording, since I knew that no other elephants were vocalizing in the vicinity. As the film team struggled to get the infrared light on the night vision camera to work, I recorded Keith with our research camera, just to document this very striking searching behavior. Because the waning moon was hours from rising, it was pitch dark, making my recording very grainy. But I didn?t care, since I was right there with Keith searching for his don. He rumbled and flapped his ears, then pressed his trunk against the ground and froze, then lifted it and rumbled, repositioned and then listened again. After about half an hour, he gave up and walked off to the north, and he hasn?t shown up since.

I couldn?t help wondering if the Andoni fire might have caused some upset in the Boys? Club. Perhaps Greg got stuck to the west of the fire and was making his way south along the pan?s edge and back to the sandveldt and then north to Mushara. This was my hopeful thinking.

Meanwhile, the musthy Smokey entertained us yesterday with lengthy trunk swings as he approached, scattering the other animals at the waterhole with every extension of his accordionlike trunk. He came and went just before Luke and Willie arrived on the scene with the spirited young Spock and an unknown young bull, both happy to engage in a sparring match in between the two older bulls, who were drinking. After that, Spencer the scrapper and gentle old Nimoy Jr. arrived from the west, Colin Powell from the northeast, and Abe just after that from the north.

Keeping track of dominance interactions became more challenging with a setting sun and the arrival of Left-Tusker and her family. It was obvious that Spencer was not popular at all with Luke and Willie. Luke and Willie were still trying to work out their respective rankings, and Luke took off just as Abe arrived, seemingly to avoid conflict with the second in command. Other interactions of note were that Colin and Abe still had a score to settle, and that Abe was clearly a favorite of the next generation of Boys? Club members: Two or more youngsters at a time reached up to give Abe a trunk-to-mouth greeting, either in unison or one after another, throughout his visit.

I keep hoping that the 2012 season won?t mark the end of an era, but one week into our field season, I?m starting to fear the worst. Greg may not be with us anymore. I don?t even want to type those words, but it?s never taken him this long to show up. I?m holding out for another week in the dwindling hope that the fire detained him. But the scientist in me is already asking the inevitable: Would his disappearance spell the end of the Boys? Club, with no one having the right stuff to replace him? Would Abe become the new don? Despite being second in command and a clear favorite of the youngsters, he doesn?t seem as interested in keeping them under his wing. Greg has that special sauce ? just the right balance of aggression and affection to hold his elephantine court. I?m not ready to give up on him yet.

Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=b6b73dbc7b15885873cd604763c7d476

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