Some might find this a strange parallel. But I find it unsurprising. A recent study found that elephants in captivity live only 1/3 as long as elephants in the wild (17 years in captivity compared to 56 years in the wild).
The major killers of elephants in zoos - STRESS and OBESITY. Other afflictions include infanticide, Herpes, tuberculosis, lameness, infertility, and stereotypic behavior.
Sound familiar?
Put a bunch of people in close quarters (e.g. the World as it is now), and look what happens - stress and obesity have moved their way up in the ranks as top killers. Mothers killing their babies, people getting quarantined with TB, families overcoming infertility issues, etc. The only difference between us and elephants is that we've found ways around these afflictions and have learned to tolerate "stereotypic behavior" so that we can now live to around 70 years, give or take. Which in turn results in overpopulation, which in turn increases the incidents of affliction, which in turn result in less interest in elephants.
In the end, it's the elephants that suffer. I'm sad.
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1 comment:
Those poor elephants... who put a Mickey D's in the African savanah is what I want to know. Everyone knows its fast food, not our own inability to stop that is making us fat...
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