"Jolted by a twentyfold increase in testosterone, a bull changes into a sort of spinach-eating Popeye, a self-confident jerk ready to fight anyone in his path" ❤️

On Social Intelligence in Elephants

#reflections #nagarhole

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Elephants, are considered among the most socially intelligent animals.

In this cute video that we shot in Nagarhole, Karnataka, we were able to witness for the first time, the amazing social intelligence of elephants in action.

The way they corresponded with each other through this unique ‘trunk to mouth’ touching, and the submissive grunts that the juniors made while accepting the leader of their herd, was indeed a rich learning experience.

It is said that, elephants frequently touch their trunks to other elephants’ mouths, especially when family units or individuals reunite.

Moreover, when an elephant is distressed, scared, or uncertain, other elephants may offer comfort by touching their trunks to the distressed elephant’s mouth. This is something akin to a hug or a comforting touch in humans and helps to calm the upset elephant.

This behaviour contributes to the strong, lifelong relationships that are characteristic of elephant societies.

Elephants, alongside the great apes, the dolphins, the chimpanzees, the crows, the magpies, the wolves, the wild dogs, the rats and the hyenas are considered among the most socially intelligent beings.

So what is social intelligence in animals?

The 4Cs of Communication, Cooperation, Collaboration and Consolation are part of social intelligence in animals. In short, social intelligence is about an animal’s capacity to be “street smart” within their own social world!

We also chanced upon a couple of elephants having their mud baths in the same forest. These mud baths include a shower of mud, grass and even plants on them.

When a Mud bath acts as a Sunscreen, Coolant and Repellant

These mud baths, act as a sunscreen, protecting them from the sun’s harsh UV Rays, and also acts as an insect repellent for the elephants.

Moreover, elephants have very few sweat glands and minimal hair, making it difficult for them to cool down in hot climates. The mud bath also acts as a natural coolant for the elephants.

I also looked up two seminal texts on the subject of Social Intelligence in animals.

In the biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal titled, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences published by the Royal Society, I read an article on “Social Intelligence: From Brain to Culture” by Nathan J Emery et al.

The authors observe that there is culture in the non-human animals as well.

They add -

Humans are perhaps the most social animals. Although some eusocial insects, herd mammals and seabirds live in colonies comprising millions of individuals, no other species lives in such a variety of social groups as Homo sapiens. We form special social bonds with kin and many of us make lifelong commitments to one socio-sexual partner, represented in the shape of a marriage.

Although the fledgling concept of social intelligence was formulated over 50 years ago by Chance & Mead (1953), it was perhaps Nick Humphrey’s (1976) seminal paper on the ‘social function of intellect’ that paved the way for the past 30 years of productive research.

The formation of cohesive social groups also facilitates information transfer in the form of social learning. Although there is good evidence for social information transfer in many animals, and even suggestions of behavioural traditions in isolated populations, there is still little clear evidence for culture in non-human animals,

they observe.

The second text on the subject that I got to read was by Richard C. Connor, Biology Department, University of Massachusetts, from the same Journal.

Richard argues that, extreme brain size evolution in elephants, toothed whales and humans was driven by a shared feature of their environment: a threat from conspecifics and/or predators leading to an extreme degree of mutual dependence.

Frans de Waal also has some enlightening observations on the subject, in his book titled, Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?

Says Frans -

A few animals have brains larger than our 1.35-kilogram brain. The dolphin’s 1.5-kilogram brain, the elephant’s 4-kilogram brain, and the sperm whale’s 8-kilogram brain. Are these animals perhaps more conscious than we are?

Humans, dolphins, sperm whales and elephants all depend on group living, and in some cases large size, to reduce mortality risk necessary for the evolution of long lives and large brains.

We hear abundant claims along the lines of “only humans can do this or that,” referring to anything from looking into the future (only humans think ahead) and being concerned for others (only humans care about the well-being of others) to taking a vacation (only humans know leisure time).

In fact, I find the best and most enduring claims about human exceptionalism to be the funny ones, such as Mark Twain’s “Man is the only animal that blushes—or needs to.”

The credo of experimental science remains that an absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Even animals such as chimpanzees, elephants, and crows, have ample evidence of complex cognition.

Jumbo Politics

We tend to think of elephants as matriarchal, and this is entirely correct. Elephant herds consist of females with young, occasionally followed around by one or two grown bulls eager to mate.

The bulls are only hangers-on. It is hard to apply the term politics to these herds, since the females are ranked by age, family, and perhaps personality, all of which traits are stable.

There isn’t much room for the status competition and the opportunistic making and breaking of alliances that marks political strife.

For this, we have to go to the males, also in the elephant. For the longest time, bull elephants have been viewed as loners who travel up and down the savanna and occasionally get behaviorally transformed by the state of musth.

Jolted by a twentyfold increase in testosterone, a bull changes into a sort of spinach-eating Popeye, a self-confident jerk ready to fight anyone in his path.

Elephant coalitions are subtle, and everything these animals do seems a slow-motion movie to the human eye. Sometimes two bulls will deliberately stand right next to each other with ears out, so as to indicate to an opponent that it is time to leave the waterhole.

These coalitions dominate the scene, usually arranged around a clear leader. Other bulls come to pay their respect to him, approaching him with outstretched trunk, quivering in trepidation, dipping the tip into his mouth in an act of trust.

After performing this tense ritual, the lower-ranking bulls relax as if a burden has been taken off their shoulders. These scenes are reminiscent of how dominant male chimpanzees expect subordinates to crawl in the dust while uttering submissive grunts,

says Frans.

To conclude, then, getting to know more about the concept of social intelligence in animals helps us to appreciate culture in the non-human, and engage with our animal friends in a more informed, respectful, and effective way.