The old adage “An elephant never forgets”, has some basis in fact.

The old adage “An elephant never forgets”, has some basis in fact.

27 Dec

At least as far as remembering each other’s faces goes anyway.

A herd of elephants will look toward the matriarchfor her experience and social memory when they encounter an elephant which is not from their herd.  She will signal to the rest of the herd whether they’re in danger and if so, they will huddle together to protect the young.  Because of this, the better the matriarch is at identifying friendly faces, the more young the herd will generally produce.

This is particularly bad news since poachers tend to hunt and kill the older elephants of the herd and in doing so, could be causing irreparable damage to the herds ability react appropriately to any future encounters.

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