Elephant behaviors Questions & Answers (FAQs)

Elephant herd and social behavior

Both African elephants and their Asian dito, the Asian elephant are extremely bound by history and social norms of belonging to a herd. When a baby is born, it will after a few hours take its first steps in the elephant herd. In the herd, elephants are constantly aware of where each individual is at all times and they know which one has just had a baby and who is sick. The elephant herd can consist of up to 100 individuals with several females and youngs and only one older bull. The elephant herd can split into several smaller herds (or “elephant units”) if the group is too big.