Despite the fact that they occupy similar ecological niches, the social structure of Asian elephants differs from that of their African savannah counterparts. Male Asian elephants spent only about 12% of their time in all-male groups as compared to 30-60% of the time in African savannah elephants. Further, in an African savannah elephant population, young males seemed to prefer old males possibly due to opportunities for social learning. Old males preferentially associated with other old males, and old and young males met each other less than expected by chance. There was no evidence that young males spent more time with old males relative to time they spent with other young males.

Source: The Hindu July 03, 2021 04:52 UTC