Passage I

What Elephants Learn

Cynthia Moss has been studying elephants, since 1972 when she started the now-famous Amboseli Elephant Research Project in Amboseli National Park in Kenya. An author, lecturer, filmmaker, and a fierce advocate for elephants—which face a daunting array of threats to their survival, from droughts to human encroachment Moss is widely considered an expert on the social behavior of these creatures. (4) A key finding from her intensive, field, studies is the extent to which elephant survival depends on learned behavior.

As Moss has observed, however, a calf must learn how to use its trunk. At first a young elephant will drink by kneeling down at the water’s edge and it sipped directly with its mouth. The habit of pulling water into its trunk. Then releasing that water into its mouth develops only after months as if witnessing other elephants doing so.

On occasion, Moss will see a calf stick its trunk into the mouth of its mother and pull out a bit of whatever plant material she is eating. In this way, the calf learns what kinds of vegetation are safe to eat on the savanna, where poisonous plants also grow.

[1] Elephants live in family groups, each one headed by a matriarch. [2] This senior female teaches adolescent females by modeling proper care of younger elephants. [3] One of Moss’s most memorable observations in which this regard involved three elephants. [4] These were a matriarch, Echo, and two offspring: Enid, a ten-year-old female, and Ely, also named by Moss. [5] Echo showed Enid how to care for Ely by staying close to him when he was feeding and sleeping and by running to his aid when he signaled his distress. [6] Ely not only overcame his early limitations, but he also grew up to be a confident young bull. [7] Ely was born with deformed feet that initially prevented him from walking. (13)

Moss has brought compelling stories and information about elephants is provided to an ever-expanding audience. She hopes others will in turn become advocates for the animals she admires and understands in ways few others do.