Mother knows best

摘要

ELEPHANTS live in social groups of up to a dozen, led by a matriarch. At least, they do if they are not mature males. But once a male becomes sexually potent, he leaves his native band and sets up shop by himself. The only males present in these groups are therefore juveniles. This arrangement is common to all living species of elephant (of which there are either two or three, depending on which taxonomist you ask). But elephant biologists would like to know if it was also true of extinct elephant species. And for one of those, the mammoth, this week sees the publication of data suggesting that it was.