ナショナルジオグラフィックのインスタグラム(natgeo) - 2月13日 16時40分

Photo by David Chancellor @chancellordavid / Maasai Mara, Kenya. There is so much we don’t fully understand about these amazing creatures. When you get the opportunity to go eye to eye with a bull elephant, everything else seems to fade away. We’ve long thought that matriarchs lead the herds, and bulls, particularly the old ones, were loners that didn’t contribute socially. However, new research shows that they do in fact play a vital role as leaders for the younger males. This one was indeed part of a group of four males.

Because of their larger tusks, the older bulls are often targeted by poachers and hunters; in this case, losing your tusks in combat might be an advantage rather than a disadvantage. In the absence of these bulls, the younger ones can of course survive perfectly well and navigate via historic paths. However, the information held by the older bulls is gathered over some 60+ years, and in times of drought or conflict their knowledge could be vital to the survival of the entire herd.

We share so many things with elephants, and right now we too could be losing an entire generation of knowledge. So let’s learn from the elephants and do everything we can to protect our older generation and theirs. To see more follow me @chancellordavid.

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