Problems with pachyderms

Life, is ‘poor nasty brutish and short’ said Thomas Hobbes. Certainly, it’s no bed of roses. Natural selection should have equipped us to deal with fear and anxiety, but has it?

Although stress may not kill us directly, it has long-term consequences for our health. People who endure Angela’s Ashes- style trials and tribulations in childhood are prone to illness later in life. Is this also true of other long-lived species?

Hannah Mumby and colleagues at the University of Sheffield have examined the effects of stress on elephants working in the logging industry of Myanmar. The country, formerly known as Burma, produces three quarters of the world’s teak. About 50% of Burmese people depend on forestry, at least partially, for their livelihood.