[ad_1]
If you’ve ever seen videos of elephants walking, eating, or possibly playing together, you’ve probably wondered at some point: what is the name of the group of elephants?
Research has shown that elephants are incredibly emotionally intelligent animals, capable of expressing complex emotions such as joy, love, anger, empathy, and even grief. They are very sociable and love to interact with other members of their species. This means that elephants rarely live alone, as they usually prefer to be close to each other.
So what is the official name for a flock of elephants? What hierarchy or structure is there in their groups? Let’s take a closer look at how elephant families function and how many individuals usually live next to each other at the same time. We will also learn how elephants grow in these groups and how the roles of males and females differ.
Elephant herds: everything in the family
A group of elephants is usually called a herd or, less often, a parade!
First of all, herds are family groups. Herds vary considerably in size, but their structure is always matriarchal and consists of several generations. A typical herd is led by one matriarch elephant. This matriarch is usually the oldest in the group and informally leads the herd, which usually consists of most of her offspring and those offspring’s own offspring.
The elephant herds are surprisingly close-knit. From protecting each other from predators to ensuring that each member of the herd has access to food and water, these groups of elephants are highly protective and incredibly empathetic and sociable. In fact, they are known to mourn for weeks or even months when a loved one of the herd dies.
When the head matriarch of the herd dies, another elephant takes his place, usually the second oldest in the group. But if herds of elephants are mostly female, then where do the males live?
Do male elephants live in herds?
Male elephants live in their own family groups as infants. They stay close to their mothers throughout infancy and most of adolescence.
However, upon reaching puberty at about 12-15 years of age, males leave their herd. Then they will either live and roam by themselves, or live in a small, poorly structured group of other male elephants or bulls of about the same age.
African elephants tend to leave their original family herds between the ages of 10 and 12. Asian elephants leave a little later, at about 14-15 years old. The only time males will interact with other adult females is during the mating season of female elephants, also known as estrus or “rut”.
Once a sexually mature male elephant mates with a female, the two separate and return to their groups. Alternatively, if the male lives alone, he will resume his bachelor loneliness until the next mating season.
Male elephants generally play little role in raising their young. Instead, their children will live with their mother, who will raise them in her family group, along with some help from her sisters. When the elephants grow up, the females will remain in the group. In the meantime, the next generation of males will leave and repeat the above process again.
How many elephants live in an average herd?
Elephant herds can range in size from 6 to 100! Herd size depends on many factors. These factors include local conditions, climate and the availability of resources such as food and water. The overall success of past breeding seasons also affects herd size.
It is noteworthy that the herds of Asian elephants are much smaller than the herd of African elephants. There are two main reasons for this. First, the Asian elephant habitats are more compact and more densely populated with other plants and animals. More importantly, there are far fewer Asian elephants in the wild than African elephants.
While about 400,000 African elephants remain in the wild, Asian elephants make up only a small fraction of that number. About 40,000 wild Asian elephants remain in the wild. Fortunately, conservation efforts are gradually increasing these numbers.
[ad_2]
Source link