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Connie Allen Wild

@connieallenwild

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Wildlife research/ photography/ storytelling 🐘🐒🐬

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3/3 Another interesting aspect of labour and birth being a social event in some mammals is the influences it can have on information transfer in groups. In some social mammals, including #elephants, nulliparous females (those who have never given birth) pay particular interest in the birth events of group mates. This attentiveness may provide valuable #learning opportunities regarding birth events and appropriate early maternal responses and neonate care for these inexperienced females. These experiences may improve their preparedness, and reduce their #anxiety during their first experience of labour (and potentially also their risk of stress related birth complications). As well as improve their responses to, and bonding with their own first-born offspring.

As more #birth events are #documented in elephants, it becomes increasingly important to explore the nuances of social interactions and their effects on reproductive #success, and the possibility for qualitative and quantitative assessment of these topics becomes more realistic.

The next steps of this research will involve the distribution of an expert #survey, to gather the observations of individuals who have witnessed elephant birth - in wild, captive or semi-captive contexts. Please see my homepage, or contact me directly if you are interested in taking part. by @connieallenwild

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2 years ago

2/3: This new #research project also draws reference to other studies that explore the importance of social #support during #human #childbirth, which has been shown to be highly influential on the well-being of both the #mother and her #infant(s). For example, women that #labour with support companions (for example, #doulas) have shorter labours, less need for emergency caesarean, are less likely to have #postpartum #depression and #breastfeeding difficulties, and give birth to infants who are less likely to require a stay in neonatal intensive care units, compared to women that labour alone or are intermittently left alone during labour.

In my latest work (link in bio) I discuss how for some highly social mammals too - social dynamics within a group might provide a buffer against #stress for some labouring females, thereby facilitating a smoother labor process. For example, Elephants that give birth in their groups are less likely to experience #dystocia (difficult #labour), and more likely to successfully #bond with their calves. These factors have profound influences on calf survivorship.

In many traditional humans societies, birth attendants are often older women, who have also given birth themselves (“multiparous”). These women, who have previously navigated the challenges of birth both themselves and among their groups, are often better equipped to assist other birthing females.

In elephants, older females, or #matriarchs in family groups, may also be particularly influential in assisting, or “managing” the labours and births of their groupmates. Older females are a source of #knowledge in various aspects of life in #elephants. My research will explore whether older multiparous elephants are important for providing highly effective #labour support that may shorten labours of their group mates, and for their specialist knowledge - such as performing essential after-birth procedures (e.g. elephant matriarchs are observed removing the amniotic sacs of non-offspring calves in their groups), blocking over-aroused parturients from access to their calves and caring for new-born calves whilst new (often first time) mothers adjust to #motherhood by @connieallenwild

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2 years ago

1/3: My new work explores how social behaviours of group members during #birth events may impact maternal and neonatal #health outcomes in non-human #social mammals. #Elephants are a particularly interesting case study for a species that appears to be highly influenced by the social environment during birth events.

Witnesses of elephant #labour and birth report group mates providing #protection, vigilance, and maintaining proximity to parturient females, and performing comforting touches, genital assessments, and providing physical support (e.g. as leverage during #contractions) to parturient cows during labour.

Furthermore, In the moments after birth, older, multiparous (elephants that have given birth before) females have been observed directing #comforting physical contact to younger parturients which appears to subdue parturient aggression to their new-born calves, or alternatively, blocking parturient cows from their new-born calves and watching over the non-offspring calf themselves whilst the mother lowers her arousal away from the birth site (maternal #aggression to #newborn calves can be a lethal problem in some elephant populations).

The project will particularly investigate the importance of these older, multiparous females, or #matriarchs in elephant family groups, who may be particularly influential in assisting, or “managing” the labour, delivery and immediate postpartum periods of their group mates… by @connieallenwild

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2 years ago

CONNIE ALLEN WILD — Inside the Lives of Elephants.

A behavioural ecologist and storyteller, Connie’s work explores the unseen dynamics that shape elephant society.

Beginning with her PhD on male elephant sociality in Botswana, her journey has led to pioneering new research through The Social Elephant Birth Project, uncovering how connection, support, and shared experience influence labour, birth, and early life.

By blending science, photography, and storytelling, Connie brings us closer to the moments we rarely see,
and helps us understand the wild in a deeper, more human way.

💚 Follow us as we share more from her world.

Photo credit @connieallenwild

#wildxtr #elephant #wildlifephoto by @connieallenwild

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4 months ago

Survey link in bio…

The social dynamics surrounding elephant labour, birth, and early postpartum are incredibly complex, yet under-documented and researched. Important social support from group mates appears to influence labour progression and potentially birth outcomes, with knock on effects for mother-calf bonding, and for maternal/ calf health, welfare, development and survivorship for many years following a birth.

Together with Elephant Welfare International, our research is exploring this critical and influential moment in elephant group life, but we need the collective knowledge and experiences of diverse elephant experts! We are seeking participants for a survey, of individuals who have observed an elephant labour and birth among her social group… including wildlife guides who have seen wild births of African or Asian elephants.  
Your firsthand accounts are precious data, not only fascinating for understanding the phenomena of social support in birth in a non-human species; but also for improving reproductive health and welfare of elephant populations. Please lend your voice to this important study and contribute to our collective understanding of the intricate social world of elephants.

🔗 SURVEY: https://forms.gle/zGijV7EL33GJiWG79

Message me for help navigating or translating the survey

Please share or repost to anyone in your elephant-working/ wildlife guide circles! Thank you!  @ecotraining @bushwise.sa @bhejane_nature_training @suyashkeshari @latestkruger @pangolinphotosafaris
@desertdelta @africanguideacademy
@field.guides.association.of.sa @africageo @marlondutoit @the_safariman @shannon__wild @londolozi @singita_ @the_conservation_vet @sheldricktrust @endlesssafari #research #elephant #elephants #wild #safari by @connieallenwild

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7 months ago

For 30 days only you can order my limited edition hand-drawn t-shirt featuring itty-bitty elephants connecting up to embody the power of the herd! All proceeds go to funding the “Social Elephant Birth Project” where I am exploring the importance of sociality and support from the herd to healthy elephant labour, delivery and postpartum care.
Shop the limited edition design now to help fund critical research! [LINK IN BIO/ STORIES] Thanks to @everpresshq for their great platform, and support for small scale creatives and fundraisers

#fundraiser #smallscale #grassroots #creative #research #elephant #elephantresearch #tshirt #supportelephantresearch #maternalcare #birthsupport #socialsupport #postpartum #postpartumsupport by @connieallenwild

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a year ago

Tracking down the secrets of elephant mothers in Namibia. Craghoppers NosiLife range was the perfect choice for staying cool and protected in the desert 🐜 ☀️ 🏜️ 🦟 ad

#elephants #namibia #mycraghoppers #camping #research by @connieallenwild

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2 years ago

The Namibian summer sees thousands of new lives come into/out of the earth, set against a backdrop of vast, resilient, ancient landscapes that have seen many more come and go before them. You feel part of something old and new, and the importance of both venerable wisdom and fresh beginnings and opportunities 🌅🌱

#wildlifephotography #nature #namibia #birth #life by @connieallenwild

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2 years ago

Best out of a selection of about 900 😆

#photographer #photography #namibia taken in Namibia, Africa by @connieallenwild

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2 years ago

Mixing it up as a landscape/ portrait photographer in Iceland.
My beloved Nikon got dropped and broke day 1 (in a car park of a kebab place, not on a volcano or something glamorous) so we had to scramble around the Facebook market place community on a Sunday for some help with a lens with manual aperture ring and manual focus. Took the opportunity to have fun testing skills fully manual (even no light meter!). Lucky my subjects had all the time in the world for me to experiment :) Shout out to Geir who lent me his lens for 2 weeks. Going to need a new camera, open to suggestions!

#iceland #icelandic #volcano #Reykjavik #travel #travelphotography #nature #portrait #portraitphotography #waterfall #waterfalls #beach #blackbeach #mountains #glacier #glaciallagoon #roadtrip #nikon #nikonphotography #nikoniceland #nikonusa #natgeo by @connieallenwild

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3 years ago

A Baby Zebra, yet to learn who to be fearful of, approaches a large elephant bull - much to his confusion.

#wildlife
#nature
#wildanimals
#elephants
#photographer
#zebra
#wildlifeconservation
#animals
#wild
#ag
#africageo
#botswana
#africa
#reels
#travel
#travelinspiration
#earthfocus
#vacation
#wpy
#womeninscience
#letsgosomewhere
#africa
#research
#landscapelovers
#visualsgang
#ig_color taken in Makgadikgadi-Pans-Nationalpark by @connieallenwild

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4 years ago

A huge focus of my work so far has been on the importance of older males to all-male societies. In many species old males are currently regarded as “redundant” in their societies, which hunters use to defend targeting them for trophy hunts (the older males also happen to have desirable features for hunters like big ornaments such as horns and tusks, and larger bodies). This is also the case for African elephants, where the preferred targets for trophy hunters are the old, large bulls.

My research however has proved old male elephants have huge social roles in all-male societies. I found they lead younger males through the environment and are likely to act as reservoirs of knowledge about resources in the landscape to younger, less experienced males. I also found that more older males in the environment reduced the aggression behaviours of male elephants to targets such as cars and cattle and other non-elephant species. Older males may regulate and police the aggression of other males, or reduce their anxiety about their current safety level. Removing older males therefore may be actually worsening human-wildlife conflicts regarding aggression to people.

What do you think? Are older males redundant in populations, or do they have a great social importance?

📷 a young isolated male directs aggression to a pod of hippos

#Adventure
#wildlife
#nature
#wildanimals
#elephants
#paradise
#trophyhunting
#photographer
#hunting
#wildlifeconservation
#animals
#wild
#ag
#africageo
#botswana
#africa
#reels
#travel
#travelinspiration
#earthfocus
#vacation
#wpy
#womeninscience
#letsgosomewhere
#africa
#sanddunes
#research
#landscapelovers
#visualsgang
#ig_color by @connieallenwild

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4 years ago