Login

Sign Up

After creating an account, you'll be able to track your payment status, track the confirmation.
Username*
Password*
Confirm Password*
First Name*
Last Name*
Email*
Phone*
Contact Address
Country*
* Creating an account means you're okay with our Terms of Service and Privacy Statement.
Please agree to all the terms and conditions before proceeding to the next step

Already a member?

Login

Login

Sign Up

After creating an account, you'll be able to track your payment status, track the confirmation.
Username*
Password*
Confirm Password*
First Name*
Last Name*
Email*
Phone*
Contact Address
Country*
* Creating an account means you're okay with our Terms of Service and Privacy Statement.
Please agree to all the terms and conditions before proceeding to the next step

Already a member?

Login

Lets talk about families! #factfriday

Lets kick off the return of #factfriday with heart-warming facts about two very special African animal families. No doubt this festive season saw many of you gathered with loved ones to eat ridiculous amounts of food, sharing stories and playing games. Christmas has a way of bringing families together, allowing time for creating those cherished memories. This made me think about two animal species whose family groups are incredibly complex and absolutely fascinating.

Girl Power!

African Elephant (Loxodonta Africana, L.cyclotis) families have a matriarchal herd with the older, wiser and more experienced female elephant (cow) leading the herd. The herd consists of a mother, her sisters, daughters and their calves. These family groups can be as large as 3-25 elephants. Occasionally, non-related elephants join a herd. Like elephants, humans look to older family members to seek their wisdom, advice and protection.

No boys allowed! – with an exception of mating season

Male elephants begin to seek independence from their family herd when they reach puberty at the age of 12-15 years of age, similar to young teenage boys. With their newly developed raging hormones, the male elephants (bulls) split off from their herd for the nomadic, solitary life. However, some males do not always remain alone and join a loose-knit bachelor group of males. These groups of males have a hierarchal structure with the strongest and most experienced leading and protecting the group.

Family splits

Elephants are highly social, complex animals living in a fission-fusion societies and can form very special relationships between individuals that can last a life time. Just like some families, they can be very close one moment and the next avoiding each other at family gatherings. Elephants have strong individual personalities, some are introverts and some are extroverts. Their personalities effect how they perceive each other and how they interact with other individuals. Personalities can clash and not everyone gets along. This is one reason for family groups to split up as well as the influence of ecological factors (food and water availability), group size and death of the matriarch.

Different herds living in vast terrain can be interrelated and find themselves socialising at the same watering hole. These ‘bond groups’ keep in touch with each other through rumbling calls and usually stay within one mile of each other. Just like our traditional family gatherings at Christmas, these separate family groups greet each other with a loving, affectionate ‘greeting ceremony’.

Grief

Do elephants mourn? Yes, they do. They have been recorded to mourn the death of other elephants. They are highly intelligent and social creatures that are capable of feeling emotions like humans when a loved one has sadly passed away. The love they show for one another helps to keep the family group safe and survive. Strong bonds can leave individuals heart broken when one dies.

Babysitting duties

Female elephants help to share the care duties of the young. It is very important for young elephants development to learn how to care for the young as these valuable skills is vital for the survival rate of calves. The more individuals are willing to help with the babysitting duties, the better overall success for the herd. Nothing better then the support of your whole family to help raise your little ones.

The African Painted Dog (Lycaon pictus)

These highly social predators form very complex social packs consisting of a single, dominant monogamous breeding pair, their offspring, and non-breeding adults who are either offspring or siblings of one of the breeding pair. These family groups, called packs, can be as large as 7-15, sometimes 40 individuals.

Teamwork makes the dreamwork

African painted dogs cooperate in taking care of the sick, wounded or young pack members. They will return from a hunt and regurgitate food for the sick, injured or nursing mother and her pups to ensure they survive. This heart-warming behaviour comes across selfless and honourable but it serves a vital purpose for the success and survival of the pack. The pack relies on every dog to do their bit to ensure they do not come back empty handed …‘pawed’, after a hunt.  Like elephants, the more helpers in the family group, the greater their overall survival rate. Every individual is important and no one gets left behind.

Greeting rituals

African Painted dogs have elaborate greeting rituals that are very vocal with twittering and whining. These rituals act as a motivator before a hunt and help to keep the pack together and to further cooperative behaviour. They help to keep bonds and remain amicable with each other. How about that, may be you could create a elaborate greeting ritual for your next family gathering and see how successful they are at keeping that family connection strong… Or perhaps just a simple hug.

When we look at the animal kingdom from a human perspective, we may see it as being harsh, cruel and unkind but if we look closely into some animal’s family groups, we may surprise ourselves with how alike they are to us humans.

Come back next Friday for more interesting facts, #factfriday !