Translator: Leonardo Silva Reviewer: Mile Živković
We can learn many things from wild animals:
how to live in the moment, how to trust our instincts,
how to not worry about things beyond our control,
and maybe even how to understand the value of another individual,
how to respect someone else;
perhaps, most importantly, the elderly in our societies.
Social species have close relationships,
and these types of animals, including us,
have evolved to live in groups, for many different reasons,
so that, in the end, it benefits all members
to live in a pack, or pod, or troop, or tribe.
Living in a community makes it easier to find and defend food.
There are more eyes on the lookout out for predators,
more protection for vulnerable young.
There are many group tasks to be completed,
but not everyone has the same duties.
And the greatest responsibilities fall to which age group, do you think?
Is it the youngest?
They're often the most numerous.
Or maybe it's the prime-aged? They're definitely the strongest.
Science is now finding
that, in wild animals, it's the oldest members who have the greatest influence
on their family's success and survival.
Not many wild animals make it to old age.
Just getting past dependence could be considered a victory,
and even then, most die during their prime.
Between conflicts with other animals, encounters with humans,
diseases and accidents, it's often a tough life
and a rare creature who makes it to advancing years.
Human life expectancy has nearly doubled since the mid 1700s.
There are even some places where people are regularly living to be 100 years old.
But, while we've seen an increase in the length of life,
particularly in developed nations,
elderly people aren't valued by their own societies,
societies they helped cultivate, raise, and teach.
Animals do this much better than we do.
One of these remarkable species is the gray wolf,
studied right here in our backyard, in the Yellowstone National Park.
When I first started working for the Wolf Research Project nine years ago,
I was fascinated by the way a wolf pack is truly a family.
They cooperate to hunt and to raise pups.
Every single pack member, from the huge adult males to the yearlings,
work themselves to exhaustion
to deliver food to the new pups and the nursing mother.
I've watched an entire litter of tiny pups as they ran, and greeted their father,
and scarfed down whatever food he was delivering.
He laid down and pretended to sleep for a while,
but tiny puppy teeth just gnawed on his tail and his ears.
After a few minutes, he playfully snapped back,
but wagging his tale the whole time,
which only works to reinvigorate the puppy games.
And this kind of scene plays out in all wild animals -
adults playing gently with the young -
(Laughter)
both of them clearly enjoying themselves.
However, for wolves,
the pups and the territories have to be protected from other packs,
and this makes wolves fiercely territorial with their neighbors.
I've seen these aggressive encounters unfold.
Sometimes, wolves are attacked and even killed.
The winning pack drives their competition from the area.
But what enables one pack to win over another?
In analyzing 16 years of data from Yellowstone,
I found that a pack was more likely to win
if just one of their pack members was very old.
If two packs of equal size meet, the pack with the old wolf wins 2.5 to 1.
The presence of the old wolf is so important
they actually help their packs in fights even when they're outnumbered.
But why does one old wolf make such a big difference?
It's shocking they make any difference at all, really,
considering they participate minimally in group hunting.
They normally allow the younger wolves to do the chasing,
and risk being kicked by an elk or a bison.
What an old wolf brings to the group is experience and leadership.
They've been through these aggressive encounters before.
They've likely seen pack mates injured or killed.
They might use prior knowledge about their neighbor, the landscape,
and their own pack's strengths to assess the situation beforehand,
only engaging when they feel their pack is likely to win.
Packs with old adults are better at protecting their families,
and this can create a positive feedback loop of success,
enabling some packs to remain dominant and stable for many years,
like the current 21-year reign of the Mollie's pack,
in Central Yellowstone.
And wolves aren't the only animals that do this.
Scientists from the University of Exeter studying pods of killer whales
found that the oldest females led the pods on their migration routes
to find the best food sources.
Like humans, female killer whales stop giving birth at about 40,
but many continue to live into their 90s.
These grandmothers are even more important during times of food shortage
because they're the group's knowledge repositories.
They've lived through past famines.
The grandmother hypothesis proposes
that the oldest, post-reproductive females continue to contribute to the group
by helping their children and their grandchildren.
African elephants, another species led by long-term matriarchs,
value the elderly as the group's most important source of knowledge,
gained through her experiences.
Herds led by old females are more likely to find water during droughts,
and to avoid predators by deciding on their best defense
for a given situation:
either run away or stay on their ground.
It all depends on what the matriarch thinks is the best strategy,
and they all follow her lead.
The deaths of these elders can send the rest of the herd into upheaval,
disrupting their social structure,
and impacting their survival and reproduction for years.
Animals like elephants, killer whales and wolves
somehow understand the value of their oldest group members,
and they react with severe anxiety when that elder is lost.
This can be very different from the human mindset.
Nowadays, especially in modern First World nations,
an entirely new attitude towards the elderly has developed.
We now have books and the internet as our information stores,
instead of the oldest humans memories.
Whereas grandparents used to play a large role in caring for their grandchildren,
we now have day cares and babysitters.
American culture in particular emphasizes independence and career success
as the ultimate in a person's identity,
both things that are difficult to achieve as an elderly person,
and, in many cases, shouldn't be expected.
As a culture, we have forgotten what animals have known all along.
The oldest among us shouldn't be pushed aside, ignored, humored,
as if they had nothing left to offer society.
Retirement in the western world has become synonymous
with a human being ceasing to be of value.
I'm proposing we do like the wolves do,
get back to an attitude of reverence for the most elderly among us,
listen to what each other has to say,
encourage growth and learning,
all the while recognizing the life saga
that has shaped that person up until that day
and will continue to shape that person until their death.
Every single person, and animal, is valuable, every single day.
So, let's use what we've learned about what's truly important in life
from these wild, yet highly intelligent species,
to get back on track with our own and each other.
Thank you.
(Applause)