Source: BBC News (1 Nov 2013)
Image source: BBC News
African elephants' decision-making abilities are left impaired by culling operations that ended decades ago, University of Sussex research suggests.
The study found that elephant herds that lost adults to culls during the 1970s and 1980s were less able to respond appropriately to other elephant calls.
Lead researcher Prof Karen McComb said the animals' "social understanding" had been impaired by the loss of adults.
The scientists, from the University of Sussex, say this is the first "systematic evidence that fundamental social skills may be significantly impaired by man-made disruption".
The results are published in the Journal Frontiers in Zoology.
Read the full article here.
More on elephants from the Zambezi Traveller:
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