Here’s an interesting story from the KwaZulu-Natal’s Hluhluwe-Umfolozi (I know that’s a mouthful 🙂 ) Game Reserve in South Africa. Hluhluwe-Umfolozi is a giant park extending over hundreds of miles of savanna and includes a wide range of plant and animal species. In the early 2000’s there was a mysterious rash of rhinoceroses murders and what was characterized as rapes in the park.
The park police did some investigating and found “gangs” of young male elephants were responsible for the crimes. This is not normal elephant behavior. The park officals discovered this had happened before in South Africa’s Pilanesberg National Park in the early 90’s. In Pilanesberg, young bull elephants committed similar acts while suffering from premature musth. Musth is a periodic condition in bull elephants characterized by highly aggressive behavior accompanied by a large rise in reproductive hormones. These elephants were having premature musths and the conditions were lasting much longer than normal in adult elephants. The aggressive behavior also was far more violent and destructive than anything previously observed.
What had happened in both these parks may be underlying advice in how to raise children to become successful adults. The elephants of Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve were young male orphaned elephants reintroduced from Kruger Park. As a consequence there were no “older bulls” in Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park. The orphan boy elephants were confused by the aggressive feelings of musth. Unsure of how to channel their aggression, they began displaying sexually deviant and extremely violent behavior. Lacking old bulls for role models the young elephants formed gangs and started raping and killing rhinos.
The park reintroduced 10 “old bulls” and the gangs quickly disappeared the “hypersexual” activity stopped and so did the killings. The “old bulls” were role models the younger bulls intuitively knew to emulate. The “old bulls” taught what was acceptable, productive, and normal behavior for elephants. They mentored the younger bulls to become experienced in dealing with the consequences of musth.
While we’re not elephants I feel there are close similiarities with this story and the absence of father’s and the affect on children here in America. There is a crisis – 27 million children in America are affected by what’s now called father-absence and it’s growing. It’s linked to higher rates of poverty, failure in school, teen pregnancy, substance abuse, violent crime, depression and ultimately a loss of hope and a future. Our children are growing up in that culture and it’s affecting them even if your are an involved dad. If our culture continues on its current path, things will likely be much worse in all these areas for our grandchildren and great grandchildren. To be sure the problem of father-absence is world-wide and not restricted to the United States. Manifestations of the affects vary from culture to culture but they are all negative and reflect the need for present and involved father’s in the lives of our children. Your children need you – every child needs a stepdad they can count on. The “old bulls” need to step up. When we do the herd will follow. Together we can make a difference for coming generations.
