The last of the Last

I had a lot of trouble deciding what to do my final project on.  I was originally going to do something Public Health focused, because that is my major.  But being a senior in Public Health I've done a lot of studying already on problems that have arised globally. I wanted to do a project on something that would allow me to learn something new, while also being something that I am passionate about.  Which led me to elephants.  I did some research and talked with my professor on what would be a valid question that would provide a lot of information, here's what I came up with.

What are the psychological and behavioral similarities between elephants and human beings?

Elephants, here in the remarkable land of Thailand, are a very worshipped and sacred animal. They are viewed as a religious icon, and were once used in the forests as loggers and transportation. It is very seldom now that elephants are used for that as their presence on this earth slowly diminishes. 

Besides being the two mammals walking the earth with the longest longevity, humans and elephants surprisingly share some of the same emotional, behavioral, and psychological similarities. They have long been known to display emotions such as grief, play, compassion, and language. They are able to recognize themselves and have the ability to learn. The elephant’s brain is similar to a human in terms of structure and complexity. Elephant’s brains are larger than those of any other ground walking animal on earth, with a mass of just over 11 pounds.  

The elephant in Thailand is everywhere you look, at every temple, on every street corner, and bedazzled onto many souvenirs along the markets. In Buddhism the elephant is a symbol of mental strength. At the beginning of one's journey into Buddhism the uncontrolled mind is symbolized by a gray elephant that can run wild any moment and destroy everything on his way. After practicing dharma and taming one's mind, it is then symbolized by a white elephant; strong and powerful, that can be directed wherever one wishes and destroy all the obstacles on his way. The elephant is said to represent power, strength and intelligence.

Said by Lek, owner of Elephant Nature Park, which is one of the places that I visited on my trip, “Elephants are the animal that surpasses all others in wit and mind.” Elephant Nature Park is a unique project set in Chiang Mai province, in Northern Thailand. It was established in 1990 and their aim has always been to provide a sanctuary and rescue center for tortured and mistreated elephants. I was able to spend a day at this extraordinary place during my trip. I hope to go back again soon and spend an extended period of time working at the sanctuary.

Me with one of the formerly abused elephants at Elephant Nature Park.

The ideal human family is a close and loving group of people who are involved in each other's lives. Elephants are the same; the roam in small packs, ranging from 6-10, like a very close group of friends or a family. When the family members have been separated for some time they tend to show great affection to one another. They intertwine their trunks, even hug or gently rub each other and give one another a friendly bump on the foreheads. Childcare is similar in the way that both elephant parents are also active in taking care of the infant for years. Older elephants use trunk-slaps, kicks and shoves to discipline younger ones.

 Matured elephants are sent away from the herd to roam as a "lone tusker" – much like human teenagers do after finishing high school. Both mammals are known to carry one child at a time and in some cases they may conceive twins.  Although, according to Lek, the owner of Elephant Nature Park, if an elephant does have twins, there is a 90% chance that one will die because raising it because each requires so much food and milk, and elephants only produce enough milk for one offspring.

As I saw in a documentary video at Elephant Nature Park, elephants are the only species of mammals other than Homo sapiens and neanderthals known to have or have had any recognizable ritual around death. When one of the members of the herd dies, the rest of the herd mourns that death. This is because elephants live such close-knit herds and live for about as long as humans (approximately 70 years), they form such strong bonds around them. They show a keen interest in the bones of their own kind (even unrelated elephants that have died long ago). They are often seen gently investigating the bones with their trunks and feet while remaining very quiet. Sometimes elephants that are completely unrelated to the deceased will still visit their graves. When an elephant is hurt, other elephants (even if they are unrelated) will aid them. Mothers and aunts are also prone to mourning a still-born calf. The mother of a dead calf (whether at birth or later on in its life) shows her grief through her physical disposition. Her eyes are sunken and her ears drooping, her mood is visibly miserable, and displays many physical side effects in the same which would happen to a human.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjtrdpSwEUY

Elephants mirror humans in terms of emotion, sense of family, sense of death. They possess all the best qualities of the human animal, and few of the bad.  The elephant’s capacity for sadness and grief is truly unique amongst members of the animal world, as it is particularly complex in terms of emotions. While most animals do not hesitate to leave the weak and young behind to die, elephants are distressed by the situation, and continue to show signs of this grieving for extended periods of time. When a member of the elephant family is injured or killed, the remaining members wail and walk around aimlessly, displaying grief. A mother of a dying infant will stay with the infant when all others have left. The remaining herd will gather around the grieving mother as though to support her through her pain. Although they have long been known to display human traits such as grief, the research shows they may also wince at each other's pain. In one example, that was displayed at Elephant Nature Park in 2002, when a young elephant approached an electric fence, an older female "looked alarmed, waiting for it to get zapped", said Lek. “She even winced at the pain.”

Elephants are one of the few species of animals that can “learn” and has also been seen to make tools for its use. They have been known to grab branches off of trees to scratch their backs, or drop rocks at electric fences in order to cut off the electricity. They have been seen stacking blocks in order to be able to reach food. They are able to change their behavior radically to face new challenges, a sign of remarkable intelligence.

One only needs to watch a herd of elephants in a river to see the “play” that is enjoyed by all of the group. They will spray each other and wrestle in the water much like  a group of human children would. They do things for their own entertainment as well as to entertain the rest of the herd. While in captivity they spend many hours “playing” to relieve their unbearable boredom.

My elephant spraying me in the river.

Elephants are one of the few animals that are “self aware” There are only a few species that have been determined to be able to recognize themselves, the Great Apes, dolphins, one bird species (a corvid), and elephants. Recognizing oneself in the mirror is an ability humans take for granted. We wake up in the morning, and head straight for the mirror - we brush our teeth, comb our hair, and clean our face. This is an ability that is a cognitive capacity that few animal species possess. Recognizing oneself in the mirror demonstrates that an animal is able to see itself as separate from others, one of the main traits of an animal having underlying empathy and complex sociality.

The secret “language” of elephants has fascinated researchers for years. The elephant's trumpeting call will be familiar to most people, but the animals also emit growls. Their growls, however, are only partly audible; two-thirds of the call is at frequencies that are too low to be picked up by our hearing. It has been determined that elephant emit different sounds to warn of predators, to announce that a birth is imminent as well as gathering lost members of a herd. Elephants often use physical gestures and signals with their ears in combination with sounds to communicate.  “When an elephant is flapping their ears and moving their feet, it means they are feeling uneasy and stressed”, says Lek. When an elephant is being territorial or protective, they make their ears as big and wide as possible to scare off any predator that may be watching.  Elephants communicate by touch, sight, and sound and use high frequency sounds long-distance communication.

Elephants live out their long lives in an exceptionally complex network of persistent relationships very much like humans do. The parallels betweens humans and elephants suggest that their behaviors many people believe to be unique to humans, like caring for their young, living in families, grieving their losses, learning about themselves and using tools to survive or make things easier, and communicating with others are in reality quite common among elephants and reveal social relationships between elephants that is hardly a world apart from our own.

There is something about this animal that is fascinating to me. They were my favorite animals before this trip for many of reasons, and after spending 2 full days with these amazing creatures, it has only made my compassion for them grow. 

Meeting my fellow wanderer

Since last week, we’ve had more free time on this adventure, which has been very nice.  In that time I’ve had a massage for 6 US dollars, played with an elephant, and had a python wrapped around my neck.

Still can't believe I did this, I hate snakes!

      

The days I’ve spend with the elephants have by far been the most adventurous and memorable thing for me. Besides them being my favorite animal, being in Thailand, these animals are all over the place. Elephants are a sacred and worshipped animal here in Thailand. Elephants are powerful, important, very patient, intelligent, good at remembering and familiar with people.

It was interesting. While I was doing some research on why the elephant is a sacred animal to this part of the world, I came across “dream elephants”, meaning when an elephant appears in your dream.  When this happens, it is a message that we are able to deal with any obstacle we are faced with at this time.  Dream elephants, in a sense, represent power. For example the elephant can refer to the powerful reaction in us such as horror, sex, survival, and the power of imagination to remind us of immense worry or great bliss. It is often though, that our personality interprets these powerful emotions in a negative way. For example, a person may have read a magazine piece of writing about an illness and develop a great fear they have the disease, causing much stress and actual physical illness in some degree.

I thought it was very ironic that all websites that I looked at for elephants and what they stood for, they all said power.  Was it a coincidence? I think not...

Today when I was riding my elephant I have a moment.  I spent my day at the elephant farm as a “Mahout” which means “Elephant Keeper”.   The way this works at the beginning of the day is not having us choose the elephant that we wanted to ride, but the elephant had to choose us.  The elephant that chose me was a very young girl, with a bell hanging from her neck.  I later asked why she had the bell, and our guide simply said, “She’s a wanderer. Her feet wander”.  I didn’t say anything, but inside I was going crazy.  My friends and family at home all call me a “wandering soul” and I recently got a tattoo on my foot saying, “Let your restless feet wander”.  I knew then why that elephant had chosen me. It was a time that I’ll never forget.

The Wanderers. 

Besides looking cultural, one thing I’ve given up on is trying to look decent.  Between the heat, and the long days, it’s just not in the question.  But, being a girl, I have noticed many of the perceived odd beauty ads, treatments, and products.

What is the deal with the white skin treatments? They are all over the place.  Cara, a friend from the trip, and I went on a search for some Bronzer (a make-up that gives you ‘glow’ or ‘tan’), and never did I think it could be so hard! Everything that the beauticians would give Cara would make her look like a Geisha.  It was later that I noticed the white skin treatments, while sitting at the doctor’s office waiting room.  I did a little research.  White skin, in the Asian cultures, is a standard of beauty.  The white skin is associated with wealth and high-class.  The rich people don’t have to work outside in the fields, which would make them paler than those who do, those being the “poorer people”.  I later came across the actual product of the contact lens that I have seen on many of the Asian women here.  I noticed that they were colored before, but when I saw the product on shelves, I noticed that they were formed to make the eye seem wider, being named “oversized contact lens”.   This may be because many of the Asian countries (Korea, Vietnam, Japan, etc.) have been populated by people from the West, meaning that the western groups enforced a great deal of power over what these people viewed as beautiful and imposed ideals of what beauty was.  

Attractiveness and improved self-image through enhanced appearance has proven to people over the centuries to be a means of better realizing ourselves as human beings, a means to influence other individuals and to communicate better in our lives, a means to gain power, if you will, and to acquire desirables. Although I would like to say that women chase beauty for their own pleasure, women do it because of the feeling of power they get when regarded as feeling and being beautiful.

Beauty is something that I know, and have witnessed, that can become an addiction.  I guess that comes down to what we discussed in class the other day, “can one become addicted to anything?” That raises a good discussion, but achieving ideal beauty, the perfect body, or that Barbie look, is something that people do become addicted to, or obsess over.  Whether that is going under the knife for plastic surgery, eating disorders, or white skin treatments and colored contacts, they are all forms of achieving a desirable look of what that person views as “beautiful”.

It’s been interesting to see the different forms of beauty throughout the world.  Along with some of the traditions and customs that this country carries, that to us just seem bizarre and something we’d view on national geographic, but here, or other countries, it’s a form of improved appearance.

My professor Angus reminding the students in the class to "not get adjusted".  Meaning to not get used to some of the perks in this country.  Those being the sun, the value of the baht, and the wonderful experiences.  That is going to be tough.  I have been here long enough that I am starting to get used to being here and paying sometimes less than a dollar for a full meal.  Who knows, next time I'm at chipotle back home, I might just start bargaining the price of my burrito. 

  That's the Thai life. 

Letting it all sink in

Finally adjusted to the opposite side of the globe after a few car sicknesses and a jetlag fever.  This country is amazing in so many ways.  The scenery, the people,  and the culture are all fascinating.  The first few days of the trip have all kind of blended together because it was "go-go-go", but now we have had our first chance at free time.

The day trips that we have been taking have really reflected the purpose of the course, those being Buddhism, Addiction and Power.  The day that we visited Wat Tham Kabrok, which is a drug treatment center located about 130 km north of Bangkok.  This treatment center has a very unique way of detoxifying the body.  The patients are given a "potion" every morning, followed by chugging a bucket of water that forces their body to vomit until they have gotten to the pit of their stomach.  This must be done for at least the first 5 days of treatment.  The physical detoxification is only 5% of the detox process, the other 95% is up to the client themself, that being coming to terms of how they got to the situation they were in, and how to maintain the will power to stay sober.

This is one of the Monks that was in charge at this treatment facility.  Their happiness and serenity was contagious, and yes, he is as happy as he looks.

I spent a majority of my time talking to a man at this treatment center from Austrailia that had been addicted to Meth for 7 years.  He had only been sober from Meth for 4 days when I had spoken to him, and he told me that even the thought of going back to doing Meth was related back to violently puking and taking the "potion" and just made him feel sick at the thought of going back to it.  He told me that power was very important in the process, which I thought was interesting because that was an aspect from our class.  He told me that nothing should have a power over you.  He was completely controlled and powerless to Meth, it controlled his life, money, relationships, jobs, everything.  "Nothing should have power over you, except yourself." was said to me by the patient I was talking to. Only you should have power over yourself.  He said because he has realized this and overcome the fact of being powerless to himself, that it will keep him sober. 

Another form of power that I, myself have experienced on this trip was this morning.  We sat and meditated in class today for 30 minutes and it was the first time that I was actually able to do it.  After what that man at Wat Tham Krobak about having power over myself I was able to have power to control where my mind was wandering to, and bring it back to really focusing on my breathing.  This was kind of an important part in this trip because it was a skill that I was really hoping to aquire.  I think this may be because we are finally at a spot in the trip where we have some free time and it hasn't been as hectic today as it was for the first couple of days on the trip which allowed me to be more relaxed and had less on my mind.  

Before this trip, I was confused at how I would be connected Power within experiences and interactions here, but it has been almost the easiest aspect of class to relate to.  Because 85% of the population in Thailand is Buddhist, that is seen and noticed almost everywhere we go.  In the street markets, or through artwork, or temples throughout the city, a signifier of Buddhism is almost everywhere you look. 

I am part of group within this class that focuses on Therapy and Personal Growth. Wat Tham Krobak, was also a huge area that focused on personal growth.  Hearing the story from the man that I spoke with, about his background, his story, and how much the experience of putting himself through that type of therapy has changed him, was very cool. Although I didn't literally see his personal change, the way he spoke of himself before the treatment, and how he thought of himself and his using even just 6 days after being Meth free, it was made obvious that as a person and he had made a lot of positive personal change.  And after talking to other people from my group that had spoken to other patients, it sounded as though personal growth was a huge topic that was discussed.  The way of therapy and healing was different from most places in the United States by first being that most of the patients at this place had been willing to, and/or admitted themselves into the treatment center.  The treatment starts with a physical detoxification, which is the "potion" that is drank for the first 5 days that will make the body purge any toxins and speed up the physical detox process. Next, it offers assistance and support in the process of the "mental detoxification".  This includes a vow, called the "Sajja", as well as a tool to build up one's will power, called the "kahtah".  Meditation is another important aspect in mental detoxification, as it provides tranquility and fortification. This place also offers a special location away from one's familiar surroundings which usually trigger relapse, or use in general.  

Although this whole trip has been unbelievably amazing, it is obvious through this blog post that the day visiting Wat Tham Krobak treatment center was one that really stuck out to me and the topics that interested me or were relevant to this course.  

More to come.