'Jumbos don't forgive, don't forget'

Recent acts of violent behaviour by tuskers in African villages, could be a vengeful act, says a study.

Scientists conducting behavioural studies on elephants have revealed that recent instances of violent behaviour by the elephants are a blow-off against human violence towards them. Fears of the vengeful elephant come after an increasing number of reports in Africa of herds of elephants trampling through villages, apparently without cause.

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Elephants have a reputation of never forgetting and scientists interpret it as a form of vengeance for past grievances.

Their study points out that the usually gentle giants may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder brought on by frightening experiences at an early age.

Scientists believe that elephants have passed down from mother to calf a sense of distrust and spitefulness towards humans dating back to the age of poaching in the 1970s and 1980s.

"They are certainly intelligent enough and have good enough memories to take revenge. Wildlife managers may feel that it is easier to just shoot so-called 'problem' elephants than face people's wrath.

So an elephant is shot without realising the possible consequences on the remaining family members and the very real possibility of stimulating a cycle of violence," Joyce Poole, research director, Amboseli Elephant Research Project, Kenya was quoted by NewScientist, as saying.

Richard Lair, a researcher specialising in Asian elephants at the National Elephant Institute based in Thailand, said there were similar problems in India, where villagers lived in fear of male elephants, which the villagers claim attack the village for only one reason to kill humans.

"In wilderness areas where wild elephants have no contact with human beings they are, by and large, fairly tolerant. The more human beings they see, the less tolerant they become," he said.