Humans are probably the greatest hazard to animals around the world. We often kill animals for fur, shell, meat, or to keep the population under control. The African Elephants have learned to distinguish friends from foes by use of smell. You might have heard that elephants also have other defense mechanisms up their sleeves. For example, the can hear vibrations through their feet, they have an excellent sense of smell, they can form protective circles etc. But you have probably never heard of the fact that elephants can distinguish certain groups of humans.
The African elephants can tell the difference between ethnic groups by smell alone. There are two different groups of humans that live near the elephants in the Amboseli National Park, Kenya. One group that lives near the elephants is the Maasai. The Maasais' lives circulate around cattle. Their diet mainly consists of milk and the meat of cattle. They also wear distinctive bright red clothing. Sometimes the Maasai kill an elephant to show manliness.
The other group of people that live near the elephants is the Kambi. The Kambi traditionally wear white articles of clothing, and their diet consists of meat and mainly vegetables. They never have killed elephants. An experiment was conducted to see what the elephants' reaction was to the two different groups of people. First, a Maasai piece of clothing was hidden out of sight near the elephant's grazing grounds. The reactions of the elephants were astounding. They ran continuously for 0.6 miles. After stopping, they were still quite nervous, and calmed down a few minutes later. The reaction to the Kambi's piece of clothing was quite different. The herd of elephants walked about 150 feet away, and stood comfortably grazing.
Another experiment was conducted in which a person held up two pieces of clothing, one red and the other white, (neither garment had been worn). Surprisingly, the stronger reaction was to the red garment of clothing. This experiment can be very helpful in many ways. For example, nowadays many elephants are rampaging towns and destroying many crops. Because of this many elephants are being killed worthlessly. We can use odor cues as a tool to keep the elephants from destroying fields and crops. For example, we can set up those odor cues at the outskirts of towns to prevent the killing of such an amazing creature.
The elephant is one of the world's smartest creatures. It can recognize itself in a mirror, it can forms defensive circles with the young ones within, and they are one of the largest and fiercest creatures. It is amazing in every aspect. The elephant is the largest land mammal, and its trunk has close to one hundred thousand muscles in it! Elephants also help the ecosystem in many ways. For example, termites of tem depend of elephant dung for food and homes. Another example is that they often pull down trees to eat leaves. By doing so, they clear the way for new vegetation. Now many elephants are being poached, and their habitat is being destroyed day by day. We should establish a sustainable program to protect the population of elephants and their habitat. This can be achieved by looking into the conclusions reached by the experiments.
Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/10/071018-elephants-smell_2.html.
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