WHAT WE CAN DISCOVER ABOUT ECOLOGY AND ECONOMY FROM ELEPHANTS
NEW FINANCIAL FORUM, MARCH 2023\
Winter time in the African bush. Waterholes and wallows are dry with only a few permanent pans providing drinking water. The great river with its precious artery of life blood is a long way from here, way out of reach for most of the animals. Greens have been replaced by greyish-browns, and many trees appear lifeless as they wait expectantly for the first summer rains. Rains that are late. Rains that will soon transform the savannah into a sea of blossom and bloom, a radical transition into abundance. Hope and change is on the horizon, but the animals are listless and wary as the dry season is a test of their endurance and fortitude. Patience and resilience are required to see it through.
Along a small dry sandy riverbed, deep within this dramatic landscape, the grand old elephant bull rests in the shade of a sycamore fig. He stands motionless, with his eyelids adorned with long bristly eyelashes drooping closed. The only movement being the slow and methodical fanning of his ears. This creates a draft of air to cool down the thin skin on the underside of his giant leathery ears that are liberally supplied with blood vessels. His radiator system. Alongside him in the riverbed are numerous holes he has dug in the sand. Cool water filters slowly into them from beneath. A troop of baboons are taking their turn to drink, as are a band of diminutive dwarf mongoose and many different birds. Earlier, some zebra, wildebeest and bushbuck were here, and judging by the tracks in the sand so too was a lion pride the night before, drinking by moonlight. Swarms of insects are attracted to the moisture and the riverbed is a hive of activity. This is the ecological keystone impact of elephants, the grey great landscapers of the bush, as they provide water, opportunity and habitat for countless other species of mammals, birds, reptiles, insects and plants. Agents of diversity, it could be said.
The elephant bull is also the keystone to my story. A story of how these remarkable animals, the largest land mammal on the planet, encourage us to look at nature and inter-connection differently. To reset our ideas and presumptions about how nature functions and how mankind is intrinsically dependant on these inter-connections and the laws of ecology. Whether we admit it or not.
After some time the bull wanders off down the trail. Pausing at a large marula tree, standing some 10 metres tall, the bull hovers the tip of his trunk on the ground at the base smelling the nutrients underground. In winter when the trees are stressed, reserve nutrients and growth energy are stored below the ground in the root system, protected from the heat and conditions above. It is a kind of ecological safe storage unit where these essential nutrients hide out un-utilised, accumulating interest, until conditions improve. With the onset of rains, they are drawn up into the tree supplying nourishment for a new cycle of life.
Desperate for this supply the bull swings into action. What follows is an impressive display of power and precision, and resting his forehead and curled trunk against the marula, the elephant slowly begins to rock back and forth. The tree begins to sway violently and one final well timed shove is all it takes. With a loud CRACK! … the silence explodes … and the huge marula breaks and comes crashing down to the ground. And with it the root system, and its essential vault of nutrients, is exposed. The elephant begins to feed on the roots, splitting and breaking them apart, and chews noisily and contentedly. You can almost see the goodness being absorbed. He will feed here for a few hours.
At a glance the impact of the elephant appears destructive. Wasteful perhaps. Harsh on the eye. For the sake of some roots, the marula tree will die and will soon be reduced to a pile of decaying branches. An iconic fruit-bearing shade-giving landmark has been lost. It must be damage and destruction right? We may interpret the dead tree in terms of deficit, scarcity or perhaps loss of opportunity. A door closing. The elephant, therefore, becomes the antagonist, the threat and the problem, something that needs to be ‘fixed.’ Metaphorically of course, the tree represents a resource that we consume for our benefit; fruit and nutrients in terms of finance, shade in terms of comfort, and its presence on the landscape in terms of familiarity. These are the tangible benefits of the tree.
But what if the process of an elephant killing the tree is entirely normal and ecologically intelligent? Like a door opening.
What actually happens when the tree dies? The decaying branches slowly decompose into the ground, radically transforming the chemistry, temperature and moisture of the soil. This quality encourages mature grasses and plants to establish, preventing erosion and soil loss. This island of emerging habitat becomes a seed bank for next year’s grass harvest, as well as a refuge for rodents, squirrels, birds, reptiles, insects and plants. Termites and fungi, the hidden ecological heroes, will benefit from the rotting wood and consequently improve the fertility of the soil. In other words, the species diversity increases exponentially, leading to a mosaic effect of opportunity and abundance. And it is an ecological certainty that the more diverse an ecosystem is, the more productive it grows and the more resilient to change it becomes.
When we reframe this story and view it through a lens of inter-connection and ecological intelligence, we see it for what it is: one of vibrant diverse opportunity.
But how is this relevant in modern society? Consider this parallel:
The principles of ecology ensure a circular flow of energy, from the producer (marula tree) to the consumer (elephant), and through a series of decomposers, flows back to the soil thereby replenishing the source. But in modern or corporate lifestyles, our flow of energy and consumption is linear from the source. The producer has a seemingly never ending procession of compulsive consumers, with each transaction motivated by personal short term gain. Maximum profit until the source runs dry. There is little thought of the bigger picture and ecosystem benefit, and even less of returning the flow of sustainability back to the source to regenerate it. We may then wake up one day wondering where did all the money go? How did we run out of clean air and water? Where did all the topsoil go?
The great and ancient code of inter-connectedness suggests that impact is inevitable. Nothing exists in isolation. The mere fact that we are alive and conscious means that we have impact on the environment. The consequences of our impact however, are of our own choice and accountability. And just as we refer to a natural resources in terms of tangible assets such as water, soil, forests or air, there are also intangible assets that are invisible to us. These may include the virtues of compassion and empathy for others, temperance, conscious living, or perhaps tolerance of those who aspire for things different to us. These virtues are the intangible resources that we take for granted and they are eroding faster than our forests and grasslands. Yet they are fundamentally important to maintain the diversity of our communities; the ecosystems in which we live. What nature suggests is that the potential of possibility in our ecosystems (societies) depends on diversity of people that inhabit them and the partnership of thoughts, ideas, inspirations and innovations that emerge from them. This is a basic law of ecology that maintains ecosystem health.
Every animal and plant has its own story, just as each one of us has our own. These stories are written in the wild landscapes that define them and us. And the stories of the animals and the plants, the birds and the insects, and the rain and the soil are connected to ours. They cannot be separated and share a common destiny.
Perhaps we could do well by learning about this from the elephant and the marula tree. To take our lead from the wild. For if we are conscious of this inter-connection we can see how the resource actually multiplies exponentially. Its a partnership that creates abundance versus scarcity, need versus want. This is what the analogy is all about: to integrate ecological intelligence and humility in our lives. And to see natural ecosystems for what they are: living patterns and principles on which our lives, livelihoods well-being is dependant.
Eventually the grand bull moves off, and leaving the fallen tree, ambles timelessly along an ancient pathway towards the foothills beyond. He passes by a marula forest, the trees of which have been germinated through the activity of elephants in the past. There are young trees growing now. So to have the mopanes, the knobthorns, the fevertrees and the towering winterthorns and jackalberrys along the river. Forests and elephants that have been living in harmony for centuries. As the red glow of the sunset fades into the dusty horizon, he disappears out of sight. Shortly thereafter the wind swirls, and the scent of rain arrives on the breeze. Transformation is in the air.