Asian Elephants Experience Emotional Stress and Loneliness When Left Alone: New Study

Solitary animals, like Asian elephants, also exhibit the same emotional stress as humans when being left alone or when having a lack of social life, according to a new study.

Scientists found Asian timber elephants in Myanmar also experience anxiety, loneliness, and depression.

The authors of the study consisting of an international team of scientists used an unconventional method to determine that social life is linked to the stress of the giant tusked mammals.

The team collected fecal samples to measures their stress under certain social conditions.

The study shedded light on how Asian elephants in the timber industry still retain their social behavior while living both as timber workers and being free in their natural habitat in Myanmar.

Anxiety and Solitude

(Photo : Ye Aung Thu/AFP via Getty Images)
Elephants traveling in a spring pond in Myanmar.

The Australian psychologist Sigmund Freud proposed the theory that the fear of solitude or being alone is the root of anxiety among humans, as per a 2013 research material posted on Research Gate by Evangelia Galanaki from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

The material suggestee that the said concepts of solitude and loneliness are the root of Freud's theory of anxiety.

Freud explained that anxiety is a product of the fear of separation from loved ones, making the fear of solitude a "universal human fear," as cited in the material.

Although there is already a mounting volume of studies related to the human psychology of anxiety and other related aspects, such as loneliness and depression, limited data is known when it comes to their psychological and social impact on solitary animals like Asian timber elephants.

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Elephants and Social Life

Loneliness is an emotional state sometimes experienced by humans due to various psychological, physical, and social factors.

It has been evident that some animals, especially mammals, also experience this emotion under certain social circumstances.

In the new study published in the journal General and Comparative Endocrinology, scientists found that the species of Asian elephants in Myanmar are experiencing varying levels of stress in relation to their social life with other elephants.

Below are the most notable findings of the new study, according to Science Daily:

There is an increase in the stress level of male Asian elephants due to loneliness.
Male Asian elephants with no friends or in social groups consisting of more males than females are subject to an elevated level of stress.
Female Asian elephants exhibit lower stress levels when babies are present in the group.

Based on the findings of the study, Asian elephants are also affected by the presence or absence of their co-elephant species.

Captivity and Natural Habitat

The scientists studied 95 Asian timber elephants in Myanmar.

The study took a unique approach since the subject mammals of the research live in a dual environment of being captive elephants who work for the timber industry, while also experiencing their free time in their natural habitat.

The elephants still display their natural social behavior.

However, determining the link between their stress and social life was done through a method of fecal sampling.

The scientists examined the concentrations of their stress hormones from the mammals' waste.