Mr. Nick, or M86 (Male 86), was so-named for the enormous number of nicks and tears in his ears. He has what we call ”ragged” ears. In fact, his ears are just about as ragged as they get. I named Mr Nick back in 1976, when he and I were both 20 years old – young, for both of us. I was fully grown, still in college, and just starting to study musth in male elephants. He had left his family a few years earlier and though bigger than all of the adult females, he was a pipsqueak compared to the oldest males. We have grown older together, though Mr. Nick, at age 52, could still be said to be in his reproductive prime, while I cannot.
Amboseli is one of the few places where you can still see old males and Mr. Nick has been fortunate to live as long as he has. Male elephants reach their reproductive prime between 45 and 50 years old, but few males live long enough to reproduce, let along to reach their prime. Life expectancy for male elephants in Amboseli is only 24 years. If you discount death inflicted by people, life expectancy increases to 39 years. You may be surprised to learn that in safe Amboseli people have such an influence on the survival of elephants.
Elsewhere the impact on elephant mortality is even greater, especially in areas where human-elephant conflict is intense, where there is poaching for ivory, or where trophy hunting is permitted. The tusks of a 50-year old male are seven times as heavy as those of a female of the same age, so sport hunters and poachers, alike, target older males. Trophy hunters used to argue that older males were”reproductively senile,” and, therefore, expendable, but my early work on musth and male mating success debunked that argument. And in a recent genetic paternity study we showed that fully 80% of calves are fathered by older musth males.
Long-term scientific work, like that carried out in Amboseli, is important because it provides essential arguments for conserving and properly managing elephants. Older males are vital to the survival and healthy functioning of elephant populations and trophy hunting and ivory poaching can inflict harm lasting decades.
Joyce, photos Petter
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13 Comments
Thank you Joyce for this interesting comments. Good work!
Hi Joice,
Great work you are doing there.
I read that Idi Amin Dada (president of Uganda in 70’s)ordered the death of every elephants male adults in him time. After Amin death, for long time, elephants teens stayed as delinquents due absence of the example and lessons by older males. Thank you.
What a sweet looking old fella! He is so pretty! Thanks for sharing information about him!
Thank you for a fascinating post. I think Mr. Nick is magnificent and wish him many years to come.
s.
Interesting – but why are some ele’s ears all ragged, others really smooth? Joyce did you hear that Kenya just joined 17 other African countries to save the continents elephants You can read about it here http://allafrica.com/stories/200802111225.html
Mr. Nick is beautiful, raggedly ears and all. I know older male elephants have a positive influence on the male juveniles as well and their presence helps keep the younger ones out of touble with humans. Paula, this is good news, however I noticed Zimbabwe absent from this list. Both Sheryl and I called their embassy in Washington and were told it was a lie about their plans to kill 500 elefants despite this being reported by several news agencies.
Hi all – thanks for all the interesting comments. I am so pleased about the 17 country initiative – the ivory trade has been, and continues to be, the major issue affecting the survival and individual welfare of elephants. Back in 1989 I carried out surveys to look at the impact of ivory poaching on the age and family structure of three heavily hit populations: Tsavo, Queen Elizabeth and Mikumi. The results were shocking. Taken together with the recent work on PTSD, and the growing conflict between humans and elephants, one can see that there are all sorts of knock on effects from this sort of break down in society. It emphasises the importance of weaving welfare issues into mainstream conservation and management objectives.
About the ragged ears, Paula, it does seem to run in families and my guess is that genetically some elephants have thicker ears than others, and this helps to prevent the wear and tear, so to speak.
The DRC is also missing from that list of African countries pledging to save elephants from extinction.
s.
Hi Paula, I´m glad to see that you hear of the 17 african nations convention! I´ve already comment this issue in the last post of this blog (february 7) and I spect that this coalition will help in the conservation of this endangered animals.
Joyce, not sure if you have seen this but I think this is one of your old friends from the EB family on his way to become a fully grown bull elephant – http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/updates/updates.asp?ID=144
What a fine specimen! Thank you for the interesting article; if Mr Nick now the largest/oldest bull in the population?
Dear All,
You may like to read what we just posted about Edo’s origin. Have a great weekend!
P&J http://elephantvoices.wildlifedirect.org/2008/02/15/edos-origins/
Hi Niall – you ask whether Mr. Nick is the oldest male elephant in the Amboseli population – no, he isn’t. There are three males older than Mr. Nick: Richard, Sioma and Sheik Zayed. In recent years the population has lost many of the grand old boys – but these four and a few others were among the oldest 30 males that I studied for my PhD research back in 1980-81.