![]() ![]() The publisher's description of Anne Dagg's book is a useful guide for what she covers and what needs to be done: "Synthesizing the available scientific research and anecdotal evidence, she explores how aging affects the lives and behavior of animals ranging from elk to elephants and gulls to gorillas, examining such topics as longevity how others in a group view senior members in regard to leadership, wisdom, and teaching mating success interactions with mates and offspring how aging affects dominance changes in aggressive behavior and adaptability and death and dying. ![]() The field is wide open for detailed comparative studies of the behavior, social roles and lives of aging and elderly animals in the wild. When I asked Iain about this, he told me the matriarch had indeed recently died and that's why individuals seemed lost - they wandered here and there and their grief was palpable even to me, a novice elephant watcher. When I had the most fortunate opportunity of watching wild elephants in the Samburu National Reserve in northern Kenya with renowned elephant expert Iain Douglas-Hamilton, I once saw a herd of elephants right after their matriarch died and it was clear that something traumatic had happened. If you're a topical expert - researcher, business leader, author or innovator - and would like to contribute an op-ed piece, email us here.Īmong wild animals, the importance of elderly matriarch elephants to elephant societies is legendary: They are the leaders of their herd and the "social glue" for maintaining group cohesion. ANIMAL AGE RELATED CONDITIONS FREEFor example, do aging animals know their behavior is changing and how do they compensate for being less mobile and active? How do older animals spend their time? How do group members interact with older animals? Do younger group members look to the elders for guidance? How do the elders interact with other group members?īecause older animals typically are non-reproductive, they might have more free time to be caretakers for youngsters and sick or disabled individuals in their group - and thus free up other group members to hunt or to protect territory and food. This book is important because Dagg asks a host of very important questions for which the database is scant, and summarizes what little is known about older animals in the wild. in their winter years." As I looked at each of the pictures, I remembered a wonderful, novel and seminal book by University of Waterloo biologist Anne Dagg called " The Social Behavior of Older Animals (opens in new tab)" (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008). A friend of mine recently sent me a beautiful and moving photo essay published by Isa Leshko capturing the " beauty and dignity of elderly animals. ![]()
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