Elephant Sex

A BRIEF VIEW OF A BIG TOPIC…

I don’t know a lot about elephant sex, but there are few tidbits from some very diligent researchers that bare mentioning …lol

Female elephants are in a fertile state for only a few days a year, they generally carry babies between the ages of 18 and 50 (they then have something like a human menopause). They get to choose the male elephant that they want to mate with. Her choice is often based on choosing the biggest and perhaps smartest male who has done some combat to defeat other male suiters. It is that genetic thing of wanting to create smart and strong babies with the best of the best. (although females seem to prefer older males because they are more into courtship).

The big herds you see are generally all female with a matriarch who leads towards food, water and safety (she is generally the largest and oldest elephant in the herd). Adult males, most times, leave the heard after turning 18 and either become loners or they will hang with a small group of other males (although these groups rarely last long because constant squabbling for to determine who’s the biggest and strongest).

And from the other side of conception, the female will carry her baby for 20 months on average. And when she does give birth the whole herd celebrates the new arrival…

A fascinating side bar, (kids avert your eyes) there is a high degree of same sex acceptance with males. It is not without precedence for one male friend to mount another male friend and (some very patient and excellent scientists have observed) they even stay in this connection longer than male/female coupling. And they can be seen with their trunks intertwined and kissing. I keep finding that elephants are so progressive…wow

And at the end of the day, their compassion for each other remains long after an elephant dies. There is a mourning of the whole herd for at least a day after an elephant dies and herds will often stop at the precise spot that a matriarch died even years later.

And to think we might lose these magnificent creatures to a lack of human foresight and compassion. Imagine a world if humans showed the same love and acceptance as the vast majority of elephants show each other.

Peace, Richard