ArticlesIt’s an old joke, but it is easy to tell.
All you have to do is say “I wish I had enough money to buy an elephant.”
Then wait for the inevitable response: “An elephant? Why would you want an elephant?”
Then you can finish off with “Oh, I don’t actually want an elephant! I just wish I had that much money.”
I haven’t told the joke for a few years, but I used to when I was younger. Then, I became curious. How much money would you need to buy an elephant? Fortunately, I had an opportunity to find out. I knew a woman who had grown up with a trad circus when they still had animal acts. (While animal-based circus still exist in Australia, the strong trend over the past 20 or 30 years is to be animal-free.) One day, maybe ten years ago, I was chatting to her, and decided to ask.
She explained it wasn’t as simple as that. You couldn’t just go around buying elephants whenever you wanted one. There was no market for them. You couldn’t just get one without a lot of infrastructure to keep them. You couldn’t just wave money at people and expect to receive one.
Yeah, yeah. I pushed past all that. Remember, I didn’t actually want an elephant. I just wish I knew what they were worth. After quite a long time of toing and froing and conceding that any estimate was meaningless, we settled on a figure of “around a million dollars”.
There’s been a bit of controversy, the last few days, about an elephant called Saigon. Saigon is apparently the last circus elephant in Australia, and has now retired. Animals Australia are calling for Saigon to be put in an “appropriate facility”, while Perry Bros Circus are arguing that the elephant is best kept with the family that raised her.
I don’t have an opinion on the matter. I am no expert on elephants and what makes them happy. I don’t know whether it is more humane to keep the elephant in the situation it has grown up with, or to separate her so she can be in an (ideally) larger facility and a more stable situation. I don’t know if you can introduce an old elephant to stay with other elephants or not. I do know that both sides of the argument seem to be using emotion and rhetoric more than facts and science, so I find their arguments unpersuasive.
However, I did learn something from the Perry’s web-site. In 2008, Perry’s was offered $2 million for two elephants, both at or near retirement age. They declined the offer, claiming the elephant was a beloved pet and not for sale.
So, just like I was told, elephants are worth something like a million dollars each.
And, just like I was told, money can’t just buy elephants.
I wish I had enough money to buy a tonne of gold.
Comment by Sunny Kalsi on February 19, 2010
I saw a documentary on ABC iview (it may still be up) about elephants. They were talking about how a bunch of elephants starting goring and murdering rhinos, among other forest creatures. After a while, it was discovered that the elephants were actually trying to mate with the rhinos. When the rhinos refused, the elephants would get angry and gore the elephants.
To cut a long story short, the reason was because for a number of reasons, the parents and other elder society of elephants had been killed off. Because the elephants were not “taught” to behave in particular ways, they didn’t know what was appropriate behaviour and what wasn’t. The problem was solved by introducing elder elephants who basically socialised the elephants and the problem went away.
A lot of animal trainers walked away with the knowledge that elephant society is very important, and you can’t kill the older elephants and expect the young ones to grow up right. I think as an aside there was discussion around how elephants go to the grave sites of their dead and sort of sit around (?)
So, I guess that means the elephants should stay with their families.
I wish I could buy an army of robots which looked like bjork.
Comment by Julian on February 20, 2010
Sunny,
With their elephant families? That’s not relevant in this situation. Saigon has no elephant family still alive.
Your example does suggest that the question needs consideration by elephant experts. I feel the elephant deserves more than just emotional knee-jerk reactions (which I am seeing from both sides).
As for elephant graveyards, I have heard stories, but I remain sceptical, until I am shown some evidence. (I appreciate, Sunny, you aren’t making any bold claims, but I have heard them before.)
There used to be a legend that elephants would go to the Elephant’s Graveyard to die. That was false.
I’ve heard stories that elephants will hang around their dying relatives, until after they have died, and then they will mourn. I try to eschew attributing sophisticated human emotions to animals. Can you (not Sunny, but the people making the claims) show how it is different to an impatient elephant waiting for the older animal to get a move on, so the group can continue?
I have also heard stories that elephants will return to a graveyard. (That shouldn’t surprise us. I am sure they return to lots of places.) When there, they will “mourn”. How is mourning different to normal behaviour? Show me a blinded study, please.
I am more than happy to learn that this really is elephant behaviour, but citations are needed.