The significance of matriarchal experience for effective leadership in African elephant

非洲象保持着高度复杂的社会结构，其中占统治地位的雌性领导着由相关雌性及其依赖的后代组成的亚群。女族长被认为扮演着关键的领导角色，并成为其家庭群体生存和健康的组成部分。特别是，年龄较大的女族长与相应的更多的经验被假定为superiorleaders。最近的研究支持这一点：有证据表明，由年长的母狮领导的群体对狮子捕食的威胁做出了更有效的反应，增强了对更广泛的大象网络的社会知识，并在极端气候事件中做出了上级决定，足以为他们及其家人带来生存和繁殖的好处。然而，女族长协调群体行为的机制，以及群体成员的生存策略在多大程度上依赖于从女族长那里学到的策略，目前尚不清楚。如果女族长在导航能力、风险倾向、威胁感知和社交网络等领域拥有上级知识，那么失去女族长，或者建立一个年轻而缺乏经验的女族长可能会产生深远的后果。这是高度相关的，因为（i）由于它们的体型较大，在象牙贸易的要求下，母象遭受选择性的迁移;（ii）迅速变化的环境表现出新的挑战，可能需要有效的领导才能才能使大象生存和繁殖。

African elephants maintain highly complex social structures in which dominant females leadsub-groups of related females and their dependent offspring. Matriarchs are assumed to playa key leadership role and to be integral for the survival and fitness of their family group. Inparticular, older matriarchs with correspondingly more experience are posited to be superiorleaders. Recent research supports this: there is evidence for groups led by older matriarchsresponding more effectively to the threat of lion predation, having enhanced socialknowledge of the wider elephant network and making superior decisions during extremeclimatic events sufficient to result in survival and reproductive benefits for them and theirfamilies. However, the mechanisms by which the matriarch co-ordinates group behaviour andthe extent to which group members survival strategies depend on learnt strategies from thematriarch, are unknown. If the matriarch has superior knowledge in the realms ofnavigational ability, risk proneness, threat perception and social networks, then the loss of amatriarch, or the establishment of a young and inexperienced matriarch may have farreachingconsequences. This is highly relevant as (i) matriarchs suffer selective-removal atthe behest of the ivory trade due to their larger size and (ii) rapidly changing environmentsmanifest in novel challenges which may demand effective leadership for elephant survival and reproduction.