Arts
The Fable of the Elephantby Barry J. Northern A young elephant trailed behind the herd, trying not to be noticed. She wanted to play with the young ones, as she always had done, but Mother had told her that this year she was old enough to help with mothering duties. The first of the new calves had been born the previous night. It had been a wonderful time, all the women of the herd celebrated, but Kijana now feared she would soon be set to some task or other.The fear of impending duty grew within her until she could no longer bear it. "Mother!" she called out. "I'm just off to the water-hole. I won't be long."Mother turned around, her trunk swaying, ears flapping. "All right, dear."Kijana had expected an argument. It seemed there were some advantages to being a little older, she thought, and stomped off to the water-hole alone. She was still young enough to feel nervous about leaving the herd behind, but felt emboldened when a pair of impala skittered away from her shadow.Now it was Kijana's plan to escape the herd to avoid mothering duties, so she had decided to take the longest route to the furthest water-hole. She would make some excuse about needing a wash, for the water at the local hole was hardly deep enough for that. She chuckled at her own cleverness. At the water-hole, however, she found she really was in need of a bath, for the it was further away than she had realised, and the day was hot.After she had spent a long time washing, which was not one of her favourite duties, the sun had already begun to set, and she could barely see her herd's distant dust-cloud. She knew it was time to return, though she would gladly have rested longer.On the way back she saw a she-lion stalking a herd of zebra. The herd was large, and Kijana feared that the she-lion might decide that a young, lone elephant was easier prey, so Kijana gave the lion, and the herd, a wide berth. The journey back took over half as long again as the journey out, so that when she eventually returned to the herd she was quite out of breath and ready to sleep."And where have you been all afternoon, young lady?" said Mother, "I wanted you to help with Abla's calf. She needs time to forage you know, she's eating for two now. I explained this to you yesterday, Kijana. That calf of hers is a thirsty one.""I know, Mum," said Kijana. "I just wanted to have a bath."Mother's great grey brow wrinkled. "Well, it's too late to help with anything now. You can help tomorrow."Kijana knew the same trick would not work again, and sighed. "What exactly will I be doing, Mum?""Don't look so distressed, Kijana," said Mother. "I only want you to play with the pup while Abla's off foraging."She who avoids labour works twice as hard.Elephants are highly social creatures, though it is females who stay together in herds, while the mature bull elephants are mostly solitary. Like human children, elephant calves require constant care for many years as they grow and develop. Unlike most animals, but again like humans and primates, elephant calves are born with few natural instincts, and so need to be taught about the world around them. The whole herd -- often closely related; mothers, daughters, sisters, and aunts -- is responsible for looking after the young calves. Such non-maternal care is known as allomothering, during which young females will also learn parenting skills before becoming mothers themselves.http://www.psychology.stir.ac.uk/staff/plee/documents/AllomotheringAnimBehav.pdfThe Fable of the Elephant by Barry J. Northern is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK: England & Wales License. Hosted by The Internet Archive, download MP3here. Music by Daniel Berkman from the album, Calabashmoon, track 4 Two Rings, and provided by magnatune.com