"Human remains . . . are the only other ones that elephants will treat as they do their own."

This article makes a start toward reciprocating that recognition. Startling evidence that we don't have to look deep into space to see that "We are not alone."

Comments

[Icepick]

Decades of poaching and culling and habitat loss, they claim, have so disrupted the intricate web of familial and societal relations by which young elephants have traditionally been raised in the wild, and by which established elephant herds are governed, that what we are now witnessing is nothing less than a precipitous collapse of elephant culture.

Oddly enough, this is similar to the central theme of Michael Crichton's "The Lost World", the sequel to "Jurassic Park". (And here I'm referencing the books, and not the excreable movies.)

Culture in other animal species is an intersting subject. For example, are mountain gorillas and lowland gorillas two seperate species, or one species and two "races" with differing cultures? The Pans have different disctinctive cultures as well.

And elephants raping rhinos! I know Chimps have been known to commit rapes, but I haven't heard of cross-species rape before, except by humans.

[Icepick]

Wow, what a fun article!

‘‘We know that these mechanisms cut across species,’’ Schore told me. ‘‘In the first years of humans as well as elephants, development of the emotional brain is impacted by these attachment mechanisms, by the interaction that the infant has with the primary caregiver, especially the mother. When these early experiences go in a positive way, it leads to greater resilience in things like affect regulation, stress regulation, social communication and empathy. But when these early experiences go awry in cases of abuse and neglect, there is a literal thinning down of the essential circuits in the brain, especially in the emotion-processing areas.’’

[amba]

I know, the detail of elephants raping rhinos -- stated without blinking by the article's author, who then just moves on -- is mind-boggling. He leaves you going, wait a minute -- what? how? female rhinos only, or males too?

The analogy to young human males raised without fathers (and possibly by drug-addicted mothers) joining "wilding" gangs is almost perfect -- more than an analogy, it seems to be much the same phenomenon. The necessity of adult males to regulate young males, in particular.

[Icepick]

Would it surprise you to hear that once again I see the ravages of the guns of August?

[Icepick]

The necessity of adult males to regulate young males, in particular.

Truly. Boys (of the human variety) need to get their asses kicked regularly and systematically by those who know better. It takes an awful lot of discipline to keep "youthful vigor" in check, and to deflect it into useful channels.

[Walrus]

It reminds me so much of inner city families. Or lack thereof.

Facinating, but thoroughly depressing.

[Pastor_Jeff]

Icepick,

Not disagreeing with you, but what you should really bemoan is the untimely suicide (murder?) of Crown Prince Rudolph, Franz Joseph's son and heir. Rudolph had liberal ideas and seemed opposed to the military alliance with Germany.

Maybe nothing could have stopped WWI. But if Wilhelm hadn't had Autria to lean on, who knows how things might have turned out?

Rudolph's death is still something of an unsolved mystery. But with him gone, the Empire devolved to his uncle, a traditionalist. It was his son, Franz Ferdinand, Rudolph's cousin, who took that bullet in Sarajevo.

History is endlessly fascinating.

[Pastor_Jeff]

... and so from the secret elephant burying grounds to the "Tinderbox of Europe," by way of rhino rape.

[Icepick]

Jeff, I don't think anything could have stopped The Great War. Changed the timing and players a bit, but Europe's technological prowess had far surpassed it's political prowess. Given the way the militaries of Europe were run at the time, the resultant bloodbath was inevitable once the shooting started.

Additionally, Austia was coming apart, as was the Ottoman Turkish empire, and the Russian situation was completely unstable. Once a wider crisis started in the West, it was likely that bad things were going to happen to all three of those empires.

Really, when I talk about the guns of August, I really don't mean any one particular event. That's just when the full scale of the crisis became apparent.

[Icepick]

... and so from the secret elephant burying grounds to the "Tinderbox of Europe," by way of rhino rape.

Dude, I get around.

[Pastor_Jeff]

I don't think anything could have stopped The Great War.

I tend to think you're right. And I agree with your belief in the overlooked importance of the Great War. There are just so many intriguing "what ifs" to it, though.

What if a more liberal Austrian monarch (Rudolph) hadn't been pulled into Germany's sphere and Wilhelm didn't have as much reason to think he could win a war?

Did Russia have to become a communist state? Germany sent Lenin back to Russia to stir up trouble and get the Czar to stop fighting. No war, maybe no revolution.

Apart from WWI, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire didn't have to die the way they did. It might have just been 1848 all over again with small-scale uprisings.

Anyway, I agree that some kind of conflagration was inevitable. It's fun to theorize what might have been.

[amba]

Wow, that was a leap. But the same one made in the article, I guess.

[Icepick]

I've been obsessed lately with the crisis of government humanity has been experiencing for approximately the last 100 years. Our scientific and technological skills coupled with the industrial revolution have changed the basic nature of living for a large chunk of humanity. (And created a much larger population of all strata for the planet to have to deal with.) Our governments haven't yet fully adapted, and perhaps they can't, given the accelerating pace of change in humanity's abilities.

How is a government that was initially designed to work for agrarian gentry and shop-keepers numbering just a few million spread out over vast distances (for their level of technology and especially communication) supposed to work for a population of 300 million people, most of whom have powers that make Merlin look like a cheap carnival trickster? As Cyndi Lauper once said, "The mind simply boggles!"

[Pastor_Jeff]

Dude, I am so with you.

The President's job has become far too large for one person. We expect insight on every imaginable topic and flawless political performance with no margin for error.

The number or US Representaives hasn't changed since ... wait for it ... WWI. In 1910 there were 435 Reps for fewer than 90 million Americans. It's not like everyone's going to know their man (or woman) in Congress, but 700,000 people per Rep? When we started it was 30k.

And we have created dependence on any number of government programs, supports, tax breaks, and subsidies. And we have created an incomprehensible web of laws to regulate absolutely everything.

The expectations and responsibilities of government have gone up drastically while human nature hasn't changed and the structure is the same.

All this is a recipe for corruption, political logjams, and cynicism on the part of the people.

I don't know what the solutions are, but what we've got isn't cutting it in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, or responsiveness.

[Icepick]

Jeff, and our domestic problems are only the tip of the iceberg. There's still a whole world out their beyond our borders facing problems of governance.