Social Organization
Public domain
As stated on the previous page, cows and their prepubescent offspring live in a matriarchical society - a kinship group. They are led by the oldest, most dominant female, and they are all related to her in some capacity (i.e. sisters, daughters, nieces, etc.) The matriarch, as the leader of the group is called, makes all the decisions regarding when to feed, migrate, group for defense, and flee. Females in the group appear to recognize a certain order of dominance within their group. Examples of this have occurred when the matriarch has been killed by hunters/poachers, and the second in command has taken control of the group. If warning shots are fired, or the elephants are otherwise stressed, the new matriarch will lead the group away from the area and they will follow her. This shows that the others in the group recognize the second in command as the penultimate matriarch, or the second in command. The members of the kinship group will seldom stray more than 50 yards away from the matriarch. This organization is advantageous because the Matriarch is often the oldest, most experienced member of the group (Sikes, 1971). Under her leadership, the kin group is most likely to survive and stay healthy/well fed.
Bulls, on the other hand, exercise several different strategies for living socially. They may at times be found in groups of 12-15 bulls feeding and traveling together. These groups may be called bachelor herds. Older bulls, and some younger ones as well, live a more solitary lifestyle (Sikes, 1971). Occasionally, bulls have been seen to accompany a kinship group. These 'herd bulls' tend to exist in places where elephant populations are less dense. By following the cows around, the bull has a greater chance of monopolizing one when it is in estrus (Barnes, 1989). Bulls maintain a strict dominance hierarchy. With higher rank comes the ability to mate with more females. This rank is based primarily on size, which is a function of age (Sikes, 1971)