Elephants feel more stressed when lonely: study proves

Researchers have proven that male elephants that live in groups feel less stressed and female elephants feel less stressed when they are surrounded by their babies, Daily Mail reported. 

Scientists from the University of Turku studied elephants in Myanmar to see how sociability among elephants affects their stress levels.

According to the results gathered by the researchers, Male elephants show higher levels of stress when they have no friends, while female elephants were also found to be less stressed when they had babies.

The team, in order to assess whether sociality is linked to stress in the animals, compared the levels of stress hormones in their faeces.

Earlier research has proven that people that lack strong social bonds experience a range of disadvantages including a higher risk of diseases and an decrease in lifespan.

The research team said that ‘Feeling lonely can also have a negative impact on your mental health, especially if these feelings have lasted a long time.’

Researchers studies 95 Asian elephants in Myanmar who were working in the timber industry.

Dr Martin Seltmann, who led the study said ‘This is a unique research environment and population that allows us to study many elephants living in their natural environment, but at the same time have detailed information about their social lives.’

 

Different work-groups of elephants were assessed during the investigation and the team also assessed the concentrations of stress hormones in the elephants’ faeces.

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The team also spoke to the elephants’ handlers from 2014 to 2018 and gathered information on the social interactions of the elephants.

Dr Seltmann added that they found that the animals showed higher levels of stress when they have no friends and when they are in social groups with more males than females.