Pachyderm politics

• Autores: Lesley Evans Ogden
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 2950, 2014, págs. 42-45
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Across Africa elephant numbers are dwindling as demand for ivory has surged in recent years. On the black market, a pair of tusks can fetch the equivalent of 15 years of an unskilled worker's salary, so the incentive for poachers is high. Once poachers have killed the biggest males, mature matriarchs are their next targets. What happens to a group that loses its matriarch is not clear. Here, Ogden stresses that people if want to help elephants, they need to understand the structure and function of leadership within their society. Matriarchs may be adept at solving the problems faced by the elephants that look to them for leadership, but at the moment humans are their greatest problem, one that they cannot resolve for themselves.