Caitlin O?Connell-Rodwell, who teaches at the Stanford University School of Medicine, writes from Etosha National Park in Namibia, where she is studying elephant societies.
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Wednesday, July 25
All is not well at Mushara. The consequences of Paula?s continued rejection by the Athlete family are starting to show. Not only is Paula looking exhausted, but so is her little calf, Bruce. They were here again yesterday, and as is typical of this family, they came barreling in desperate for a drink, only this time they were more desperate to cool down first and headed for the pan to have a bath. Paula, accustomed to being forced to drink in the pan while the others drink fresh water, was pushed out of the pan by one of the other adult females, Nadia, interrupting Bruce?s cool-down. Within the next 10 minutes, I saw Paula pushed away from the family by three of the other females, all the while being eyed by the matriarch, Mia. This coordinated rejection was also directed at Bruce, which was particularly heartbreaking.
Bruce had noticeably less energy yesterday than in the past. Previously, he?d often lie down to roll and dust in the sand and play on his own, but yesterday, every time he?d go down, Paula would pick him up with her foot ? an indication to me that he didn?t have the energy to stand. Even Paula?s 6-year-old female calf was paying more attention to the baby, noticing his weakened state and helping to shade him from the sun.
Suddenly the crisis took on a whole new meaning, and I started to notice other signs of how bad things had gotten. I could see Paula trying to encourage Bruce to suckle, but he didn?t seem interested. When he did nurse, he didn?t do so for very long, and it didn?t appear that he was getting any milk. I noticed that Paula?s mammary glands were noticeably smaller than those of the other lactating females. Could the stress of rejection have caused her to stop lactating? Perhaps Bruce was not getting enough to eat, and perhaps the wobbly legs that he should have grown out of by now were a reflection of dehydration and hunger. I now looked at this poor thing with very different eyes ? no longer was he a sweet little calf with pink ears and wobbly legs, but a vulnerable creature in crisis, a reflection of family politics in desperate times.
As the family took off to the south, toward where we knew Bobtail and her pride of lions waited in ambush for a meal, I couldn?t help but wonder how Bruce would spend the night. How was Paula going to protect her increasingly vulnerable little calf? I hoped that things would look brighter in the days to come, but I feared the worst.
This season has brought all kinds of unexpected strife in elephant country. And to make matters worse, Keith and Willie Nelson came in at sunset only to engage in a very aggressive interaction. While once best of buddies, Willie had shown some intolerance of Keith?s desire to follow him last season, but now it was the reverse, as if the next-generation Boys? Club has totally lost its way. Why weren?t the boys bonding as they always did? And why the lack of respect for their elders?
A few days back I saw Congo Connor treating Tim with disrespect, even though Tim had once been a great mentor, taking Congo under his wing when Congo really needed company. At least Prince Charles remembers the good old days, that Abe and Mike were deserving of his respect, despite his seemingly upwardly mobile plans.
I hope we?ll see the brighter side of elephant nature before the end of the season. Until then, we?ll hunker down in the wind and will the paths of the dust devils away from camp.
Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=38da6e2fa13fd80c8c1268ddd8d8412b
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