I was listening to NPR on my way to work the other day and the issue of rape came up. I have never been more astounded then I was when I heard the news that they were reporting. Rape has occurred since the dawn of man but the rape that they were discussing had no direct involvement of man. Apparently, young male delinquent elephants in Africa are raping and then killing young docile female rhinoceros. Elephants have long suffered the wrath of human-kind in their native land and abroad. Have these elephants had enough? Are they finally speaking in a language that we can understand?
The sociological theories that have been formed based on anthropomorphic behaviors can now be used to describe the behaviors of these elephants. The strain theory developed by Robert Agnew could possibly best describe this deviant behavior found among young male elephants. Agnew argues that, failure to achieve positively valued goals, removal of positively valued stimuli, and presentation of negative stimuli all result in strain.
What is a positively valued goal for an elephant? For a human it might be money, but money is only good for what it buys. It buys status and it buys goods. For an elephant something equally important to money might be territory, a high capacity for sexual selection, or food and water sources. Not achieving those goals might lead to a desire to pronounce masculinity. What better way to show off that testosterone than raping a young lady of another Genus and subsequently ripping her apart with your tusks. Elephants are matriarchal, the females head the heard, and therefore rape within the elephant tribe probably wouldn't fly.
Next on the strain list is the removal of positively valued stimuli. Over time all that is important to the elephant has slowly diminished. This paired with the poaching of their friends and family members has caused them to retaliate. As a group they are stampeding villages and taking opportunities to eradicate individuals when the opportunity presents itself. Captive elephants will live in chains and dance on tiny buckets, for our entertainment, but mess with one of their own and you're as good as dead. This deviant behavior has now extended to other animals that have done nothing to harm or provoke such atrocities. Is the strain of all the loss they have suffered driven them to act maliciously against innocent bystanders? Have they had enough and are just as bitter as us?
Last is presentation of negative stimuli. This can be explained in a couple of different ways. The first is the obvious – humans have accomplished the very daunting task of killing their babies, fathers, brother, sisters, and mothers. We have encroached on their habitat leaving them little to no room to successfully survive as a species. I'm not sure that it gets any worse than that. The pain that has been suffered by these elephants has caused strain on their ability to think rationally. Acting defiantly is a way to be noticed and to articulate this pain.
The second is similar to the old kick-the-cat syndrome. The elders of the elephant tribe are so consumed by pain that they take it out on the youngsters. The youngsters then take it out on, well in this case – a rhinoceros.
Will this despicable behavior displayed by these male elephants allow us to understand them a little better? Let's face it; we are a race that is consumed with rebellious, insolent, and violent behaviors. Have the elephants finally realized a way to communicate with us? Are they simply trying to speak our language? Or are they just mean?
