Matters of Life.

By: ~Kelechi Deca

Tellingly, Elephants are among the most intelligent animals in creation. Their highly organised and seamlessly hierarchical family system has been their strongest bonds for survival. That’s why they tend to outlive many other animals inspite of their very huge frames.

Elephants run a matriarchal system where the females call the shots, and the oldest female, oftentimes a great grandmother is the leader. Naturally, and she is the custodian of institutional knowledge of the family. She has stored on the sole of her feet, the GPS of every nook and cranny the family has been to spanning 200 years.

I have paid so much attention to animals that have female led systems and one thing I found is that they seem to be more organized, prosperous, and highly sustainable with higher survival rates compared to male led animal groups.

Female Elephants menstruate. And like everything about Elephants, the duration is longer. It lasts for between 13-18 weeks in length. The Elephant’s estrous cycle is the longest amongst all studied non-seasonal mammals to date. Progesterone increases 1-3 days after ovulation, indicating the start of the luteal phase, which lasts 6-12 weeks.

But they do not have overt menstruation (where there is bleeding from the uterus through the vagina). This is found primarily in humans and close relatives such as chimpanzees.

Elephants have the longest gestation period of all mammals, they’re pregnant for up to 22 months while a Blue Whale is only pregnant for 10-12 months.

Unlike other animals, elephants usually have only one baby at a time. However, there are rare cases where elephants have had twins, but this only happens in one per cent of elephant births. This is understandable because carrying two huge babies could be dangerous for the mother Elephant.

One of the most interesting sights in the wild is watching an Elephant give birth. Few spectacles compare to the beauty of such sight. In the wild, when a mother Elephant is ready to give birth, the family will take time to pick a spot that is the safest, in an area removed from predators like Lions, even though they’re ready to die defending the mother and baby than allow any predator come close.

After they have identified the spot, the sister code is activated, and other female Elephants would form a protective circle behind the expectant mother in a certain formation while some would keep watch at a farther distance.

They close ranks so that the delivering mother cannot even be seen in the middle. They stomp and kick up dirt and soil to throw attackers off the scent and basically act like a pack of protection.

When the baby is delivered, the mother is the first to announce the arrival of the baby by making a very loud trumpeting call so the other members of the family at a distance would start coming. Ordinarily, an Elephant’s trumpeting can be heard as far as 10 kilometers.

The next thing for the mother would be to kick the baby Elephant so it can come out from the placenta. After this, the sister Elephants would start trumpeting happily to welcome the new member of the family. Interestingly, no male is allowed around during this sacred ritual.

Then they will do two things: they kick sand or dirt over the newborn to protect its fragile skin from the sun, and then they all start trumpeting, a female celebration of new life, of sisterhood, of something beautiful being added to the family.

At birth, elephants can weigh up to 120 kg and stand about 3ft tall. Elephants give birth around every four years, and given their pregnancies can last around two years. Elephants can live for 60-70 years but they typically have about four or five babies during their lives.

It has been observed that when female Elephants become grandmothers, they tend to induce menopause so they will have more time to play the role of guidance and teacher to their grandcalves instead of being nursing mothers when their own daughters are also nursing mothers. This role duplication affects the quality of life of a herd as the grandmothers attention is divided.

The success of a herd depends on the wisdom of the leader.

elephants #nationalgeographic #nigerianconservation #naturelovers

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