The trouble started about three years ago. Nearly every month, rangers in Pilanesberg National Park in northwestern South Africa would find an endangered white rhinoceros that had been killed. Then the same thing started happening at Hluhluwe-Umfolozi (Slush-loo-ey Oom-fall-o-zee) Park, in southeastern South Africa.
Rhinos are sometimes hunted for their valuable horns. But no one had touched the horns of these animals. Their wounds hadn't come from guns.
The rangers who solved the crime were surprised to learn what was to blame. Young male elephants, which usually leave rhinos alone, had attacked and killed them.
Angry Orphans
Why would elephants murder rhinos? Experts guess the young elephants behaved badly because they had grown up without the attention of caring adults.
Several years ago, the population of elephants in South Africa's Kruger National Park was growing too large. Rangers tried to control the growth by slaughtering older elephants and then moving the young elephants to other parks and reserves. Since 1978, almost 1,500 orphans-- 600 of them males, or bulls--have been moved to unfamiliar locations, where they grew up without older elephants around them.
Moving the orphans helped preserve an endangered species. But it changed the elephants' social order.
"The whole thing has much to do with the setup of elephant society," says South African zoologist Marian Garai. Elephants normally live in tight-knit groups. Older males keep young bulls in line. But no such role models were provided for the orphans from Kruger. Garai believes this upset the young elephants and led them to lash out at rhinos.
"Elephants are complex and intelligent creatures," explains Garai. "They aren't immune to stress."
What can be done? Some rangers believe the elephant bullies need foster parents. When two adult female circus elephants were returned to Pilanesberg in 1979, soon after the first orphans arrived, the nervous youngsters quickly settled down.
Now officials hope a similar plan will work for the rhino-bashing bulls. Two years ago, Kruger Park began to move entire families of elephants to new homes instead of killing the elders and hauling away their young. Early next year, a few 40-year-old male elephants will be moved to Pilanesberg.
Preserving families may be the key to raising well-behaved elephants. Meanwhile, South Africa's white rhinos had better watch out.