concede rights to nonhuman animals. Tom Regan (2004) makes the case for
animal rights. He argues that even if we do not concede that animals possess
32 Elephant Sense and Sensibility
sensory, cognitive, conative, and volitional capacities, our human moral sensibil-
ities demand that we extend these precepts to animals in morally relevant ways.
Regan, with many others, holds that animals have a mental life; he calls it
subjects-of-a-life, in which they experience physical pain, pleasure, fear, con-
tentment, anger, loneliness, frustration, satisfaction, and a number of other emo-
tions that we readily recognize. These animals, which he recognizes are above
some primitive form of life, see, hear, desire, remember, anticipate, plan, intend,
and may even know what matters to them. They should never be treated sim-
ply as resources for others to exploit. Treating animals without respect is mor-
ally wrong and if morally wrong, such treatment in the ultimate sense should be
abolished. While such a view leads us into serious conflict with a broad range of
socioeconomic issues such as the banning of killing of all animals for consump-
tion, Regan proposes, at the very least, a principle of basic moral rights. This
principle holds that all animals deserve the right to respectful treatment. Animals
have certain basic moral rights and should never be treated as mere receptacles of
intrinsic values and that they have the prima facie right not to be harmed.
In the extreme, a group of biologists have suggested that plants have electri-
cal and chemical signaling systems, responses that resemble memory and ex-
hibit behavior that in other species would be ascribed to a brain (Brenner et al.,
2006). Despite rejection of such notions by most biologists and neuroscientists,
the unexplained behavior of plants in apparently generating short- and long-term
electrical and chemical neurotransmitter-like signals must give us some pause
for thought when considering the existence of moral behavior in elephants.
In light of the above discussion, we seek in this section to uncover evidence
of what might be characterized as moral behavior in elephants, building upon
what we know of their cognitive memory and social organization.
Elephants are among the most social animals on the planet (Lee and Poole,
2011). Family units and bond groups led by the oldest female are stable and long-
lasting. Leadership is rarely, if ever, contested and female rank and position is rec-
ognized without contention (Evans and Harris, 2008). There is fluid exchange,
referred to as fission–fusion, among the core family unit and the wider bond or
even clan groups. Bonding forces are strong and the ability to recognize large num-
bers of individuals (see above) is well established. Individuals, in recognizing and
meeting other elephants they have not seen for some time, express their feelings
with loud vocal greetings, much bodily contact, exploring each other’s mouths,
eyes, ears, and temporal glands with their trunks. These displays are not confined
to individuals in the herd but are expressed by virtually all members of the group.
Elephant society promotes survival. While the group may spread out over a
fairly wide area when feeding, near continuous low-level, low-frequency contact
is maintained. The need to drink water arises on an almost daily basis, since adult
elephants drink about 50 gal of water per day. To satisfy this need, matriarchs will
emit a loud, low-frequency assembly call. The herd will gather together, shelter
the youngest members in the line-of-file, and proceed to the waterhole in an
orderly fashion. Predators such as lions who, particularly at the height of the dry
Morality Chapter | 6 33
season when water may be limited to only a few locations, frequent these loca-
tions would certainly take young elephants if not accompanied by the herd. In a
herd the adults will join together and will intimidate and drive away even a large
pride of lions (Figures 6.2 and 6.3).
At waterholes with limited water and access, a herd of elephants will show
remarkable constraint, taking turns to drink and avoiding sullying the water
FIGURE 6.2 Large male lions threaten young elephants while a group of lionesses sometimes can kill an adult elephant.
FIGURE 6.3 A pack of hyenas represents a threat to calves and young elephants.
34 Elephant Sense and Sensibility
where they are drinking and using the overflow part of the waterhole to bathe
and mud-bath. At a waterhole in what was then Wanki Game Reserve in
Southern Rhodesia, a very large group of elephants numbering over 100 ap-
proached a very small artificial waterhole fed by a windmill-powered pump.
The available water was contained in a shallow circular cement basin no more
than 5 m (15 ft) in diameter. An outflow on the downstream side of the basin
allowed excess water to flow down into a muddy area where it disappeared into
the ground. The elephants were clearly stressed on an extremely hot late after-
noon and were hurrying in a characteristic fast walk, clouds of dust rising from
the path and obscuring the end of the line of animals. Watching the urgency
with which the herd was approaching, one feared chaos at such a small water-
ing hole, hopelessly inadequate to serve such a large number of desperately
thirsty animals. Instead, as the leaders approached the small waterhole, they
slowed down, dipped their trunks into the water, continued walking around
the hole while pumping trunkfuls of water into their mouths, completing a
270- degree arc around the hole and exiting from the hole to either continue to
drink from the muddy overflow or begin spraying water and mud over them-
selves from this location. This orderly behavior continued until the entire line
of elephants had circled the cement pool and each elephant had had at least one
turn to drink from the unsullied water.
The conduct of the herd suggests a recognition of ordered behavior, if not
rules, which benefit the group as a whole. There is broad recognition of rank but
this did not override the need to protect the young. The young were protected in
the middle of the line-of-file at the expense of elders at the rear.
A distinguished team of scientists (Shannon et al., 2013) have recently com-
pleted a study in which, for the first time, is presented experimental evidence of
the crucial role played by society in the lives of elephants.
Social skills are severely disrupted by the dislocation of elephant family
units and translocation to unfamiliar territory. In a long-lived, closely knit,
kin-based society such as in elephants, initial trauma may well be followed in
successive generations by a loss of knowledge and a potential decline in neuro-
logical development.
Playback calls were broadcast by Shannon’s team to an “undisturbed”
population of elephants in Amboseli National Park and to a “disturbed”
population in the Pilanesberg National Park. Whereas the Amboseli popula-
tion (58 family groups) had been subjected to a minimum in human-induced
disturbance with no traumatic events, the Pilanesberg population (16 family
groups) had been subjected to extreme trauma and translocation. In the case
of the Pilanesberg elephants, all of their older family members had been shot
around them. As infants they had been captured amidst this chaos, tied to
their dead or dying mothers, held initially confined to small cages, brought
up among humans, translocated in closed vehicles, and ultimately released
in an unfamiliar environment with no contact at any point to other adult
elephants.
Morality Chapter | 6 35
Female contact calls were broadcast to family units within both groups
of elephants. In the first experiment, social knowledge was tested using three
social categories of playback calls:
Social category 1: familiar, a call from a well-known individual within the
family group’s population.
Social category 2: unfamiliar, a call from a low-ranking individual within
the family group’s population.
Social category 3: alien, a call from a caller who was unknown to the fam-
ily unit.
In the second experiment, the role of age and dominance was tested. Five indi-
populations. Each of the five calls was then assigned to one of five age groups
ranging from 15 to 55 years in 5-year intervals. Each call was controlled to
represent the caller’s age and dominance (see Shannon et al., 2013, p. 7). The
results of these experiments are remarkably clear.
In the first experiment, the defensive bunching exhibited by the Amboseli
elephants shows a clear escalation as a function of how well the caller is known
to the group. The Pilanesberg elephants, on the other hand, failed to focus their
defensive bunching in response to the most threatening individual.
In the second experiment, the Amboseli elephants were clearly able to as-
sess the age-related dominance of the caller whereas the Pilanesberg elephants
were unable to distinguish between the level of social threat presented by the
older and younger callers. The behavior of the Pilanesberg elephants may have
mainly reflected the absence of exposure to older, more experienced elephants.
However, the results of the above study also reflect a much deeper-seated re-
sponse to their initial trauma, resulting in neurological damage that impaired
decision-making ability. In both cases, the effects of the presence or absence of
a highly organized social structure are clearly manifest. Without a closely knit,
kin-based society, elephant behavior fails to develop and transmit responses that
promote survival.
Morality is intimately embedded within the raising of young and the strength
of the social bonds that hold the wider family group together (de Waal, 2008;
Peterson, 2011). There is a profound paradox between the drive for genetic
self-advancement of the individual which is potentially at the expense and the
survival of the group as a whole. In elephants the solution seems to be in the
unique matrilineal structure of their society. The large, powerful, and poten-
tially dangerous males are excluded from the group at puberty and are allowed
to ultimately indulge in serious and sometimes fatal battles to promote their
individual genes. This is at the cost of the males and not of the group. Genetic
advancement is achieved while promoting the survival of the group.
The strong discipline and hierarchical structure that exists among male el-
ephants is not imposed upon the group. When males are ejected from the herd
at puberty, they form bachelor herds in which social learning takes the form of
36 Elephant Sense and Sensibility
FIGURE 6.4 A young male will be ejected from the herd at puberty and may join other young males in a bachelor herd or as a companion or askari to an older mature male. The askari learns from the older male and provides additional sensory protection to the older male.
competition for rank and dominance. Rules of behavior are learned the hard
way but not at the expense of the herd as a whole. Young males, referred to as
askaris, often join one or more mature males learning and benefiting from these
experienced older males (Figure 6.4).
The existence of strict rules of conduct are clearly evident in the behavior of
these young males. In a day-long following of a herd of elephants in the Etosha
National Park in Namibia, young juvenile males in the herd were unusually
rambunctious, chasing guinea fowl, screaming, and mock-charging members
of the group and bushes. Just before going to drink at a waterhole a magnifi-
cent bull appeared, certainly measuring close to 4 m (14 ft) at the shoulder. As
he slowly strode to the waterhole, all rough-housing among the young males
ceased. The apparent leader of the gang of juveniles approached the large bull
and knelt down on his forelegs, bowing to the incoming lord of the domain in a
clear display of submission (Figure 6.5).
In another well-known incident, young male elephants who had been
saved in culling operations in the Kruger National Park in South Africa were
subsequently translocated to the Pilanesberg National Park northwest of
Johannesburg. On reaching puberty these young males began a reign of terror
in which they killed and tried to mate with rhinos, attacked tourists in cars, and
killed one ranger. Their behavior approximated what in humans would be seen
as that often shown by juvenile delinquents deprived of parental control. South
in the hope of restraining these rampaging youngsters. Within the space of a
Morality Chapter | 6 37
FIGURE 6.5 Young male showing submissive behavior to an adult bull. (Pen and ink drawing by author.)
few weeks all abhorrent behavior had ceased and the older bulls had imposed
order and authority, strongly suggesting that clear rules of behavior exist, that
these rules are imposed upon juveniles by adults, and that without the presence
of knowledgeable adults order does not exist.
An elephant calf will nurse from its mother for at least 22 months, after
which the mother is likely to come into estrous again, mate, and conceive an-
other calf. During this 2-year period the calf is almost in continuous contact
with the mother. This contact, in multiple ways, involves all of the senses. Other
kin, especially young adult aunts and sisters, will actively assist in caring for
the calf to the extent that the term “allomothering” has been coined to describe
their behavior. Often the allomother and other closely related kin will take direct
care of the calf. Frequently, when leaving waterholes or feeding locations, the
calf will ignore the matriarch’s “let’s-go” call and be left behind in a potentially
vulnerable situation. The calf’s caretakers will immediately notice the laggard,
return to it, and shepherd the calf back to the herd.
A young calf at a waterhole with steep slippery banks will often be unable
to get out of the waterhole (Figure 6.6). Almost all elephant watchers have seen mothers and others in the herd come to the aid of the youngster and haul it
bodily out of the water and up the bank. In one instance the wet and muddy calf
was too slippery and the bank too steep for its two aunts to grasp its body and
pull it up the bank. After suc
cessive tries of standing on the bank failed, first
one then both aunts got into the water and joined forces to push and lift the calf
up the bank.
This too failed. One of the aunts then got behind the calf and, gently nudging
it, got the calf to go parallel to the bank to a location where the bank had disap-
peared and the calf could walk out. Unfortunately, as the calf tried to walk out
38 Elephant Sense and Sensibility
FIGURE 6.6 Two closely related kin, probably sister and aunt, with the mother standing by, about to assist a calf unable to get out of a steep-sided waterhole.
it sank right up to its belly in deep mud. The other aunt then got in front of the
calf and with her legs, in a shuffling motion, created a channel through the mud
that the calf could use to finally get out of the waterhole.
The aunts involved in this episode clearly recognized that the calf was in an
unusual situation, that it was stressed, and that it was unable to find a solution.
While there was no real danger in their helping the calf, they displayed clear
empathy and altruism in going to the calf’s assistance. The mother, on the other
hand, simply stood by and observed the whole episode. Both aunts exhibited
considerable ingenuity in solving the problem. The first and most obvious solu-
tion to simply help the calf up the bank did not work. This solution, common
in many other similar situations, had probably worked for these two elephants
in the past. In fact, it is not unusual to see the helpers use their tusks to modify
the bank by reducing its steepness or even making footholds. When the direct or
known solution failed, an alternate solution was devised. When that too seemed
to fail the obstacle was recognized and dealt with, and after considerable effort
the calf was extricated from the waterhole.
Such extended (timewise) and extensive (groupwise) care given over the
years of dependency of the calf by its mother, allomothers, and other kin in the
group form the foundation of elephant society. Within this social framework
elephants not only display recognition and knowledge of others but display
clear coalitions and alliances exhibiting reciprocity and cooperation. African
elephants have an extensive vocal and gestural repertoire. They react to sound