ELEPHANT PECKING ORDER
Elephants are taught the social structure of their herd from a young age as they play and assess each other’s rank in the hierarchy. To do so, young male elephants will gently headbutt each other, and when they’re older this develops into using their tusks to jab and further test their strength. While young elephants enjoy play fighting and treat it as a game, the activity sets them up with survival skills. When a young elephant wants to play with another, he will hold his trunk up in invitation to a play fight. This teaches elephants fighting skills, which they need to use later in life to assert dominance over others and compete for mates. Elephants are also known to demonstrate environmental play, which includes kicking and throwing mud, water and vegetation and using their trunks to grab and swing objects during play.