Savannah Elephant

Savannah Elephant

1. matrilines - semi permanent, aggression mediated dominance

   • power=age/size related
     • female kin coop
       • allomothering
         • alliances
         • calf care
           • no of adults determines protection effectiveness
             • association between no of allo mothers and calf survivorship

2. McComb et al 2001

   • discriminating knowledge better in matriarches?
     • bunching response to calls decreased with age
       • older may have a larger social network
         • alot more reactive to unfamiliar calls - individ recognition
           • Bates et al 2007
             • found that females recognise 17 females and up to 30 family members
           • McComb et al 2001
             • showed that adult females must be familiar at least with up to 100 auditory calls
               • playback family and strangers

3. Cognitive maps

   • desert elephants move over long distances for food and water
     • travel 60km between water holes
       • elephants in north/south deserts travel hundreds kilometers to reach a water source shortly after the onset of rain
         • sometimes travelling along routes not used for a while
           • reliant on longterm memory of elephants that had travelled that way decades before
             • Foley, pettorelli and foley 2008
               • showed that older matriarch groups better able to survive a drought
                 • drawing on knowldge of where long term drought resistant water sources are