Rouge Elephants Syndrome
A rouge elephant is one that's gone off the beaten path of good elephantship, turning violent and dangerous after separation from the herd. This unfortunate phenomenon is getting more and more common all over Africa and Asia.
The cause is heart-breaking, as well as immediately stoppable. As you already know, adult male elephants get poached off for their ivory tusk. Often, these are the breeding males in a certain square milage, joining the female dominant heard only for mating with the cows. They spend most of their time running the perimeter, marking their huge territories and fending off any other adult bulls. The herd itself is mostly related females since males are run off by their mothers before they reach sexual maturity.
Upon leaving the safety and comfort of his mother's side, the young bull elephant still lives within his father's territory, who is fully aware of his existence-he's been smelling him and seeing him around as he matured. Not used to being alone, a few young males often still stick together in small cliques. Most of the time, their presense is tolerated by the bull as long as he doesn't feel threatened, who lets them tag along at a distance and teaches them how to be an adult male bull. Yes, teaches them. Elephants are very 'intelligent', with a long life-span and a lot to learn about social behavior. How to interact with other adult males as well as females during mating season, how to make and keep a territory, stare down a lion, even where not to go to stay away from humans-mom does not teach a young male elephant these things, dad does. Once the young one is physically and sexually mature, his father sees him as a threat and chases him off to start his own territory and heards. By then though, he has learned enough to make his way in the elephant world.
So, when these older and wiser males are killed off by poachers-because older males equal bigger tusks equal more ivory-they are replaced by younger and younger males who are not ready for the role. They may be capable of reproduction, but they don't know everything they need to about elephanting. The whole structure breaks down, and the cycle is not repeated in a way that's necessary for normal elephant existence. Elephants rampage crops and villages, kill people on purpose, and act in ways you didn't know they could. Link here for more on that.
We have this same problem here in America. Only it is people OF ALL RACES instead of elephants, and city asphalt instead of jungle, but the problem is essentially the same. Human beings need to be raised by both their parents too, otherwise the emerging new pattern of behavior is not conducive to their survival. I know, I tried it too. I was divorced with two young sons, who expected and received my unconditional love. When they got my time that is, when I wasn't at work. And sure enough, by the time my first son was 8, he was hanging out with the 12 year olds after school and lying about school, setting trash can fires and the like. Not because he didn't "know any better", but because "so what, who cares, no big deal mom". Like what was I going to do anyway, spank him? I'd only end up crying about it and apologizing soon after, like the last time. But DADS, now they command attention-where mom says stuff over and over again, dad can just give you "that look" and all is said and done. Let's face the biological facts: dads are bigger, louder, more agressive and less nurturing in most children's eyes than moms. This is true when taken as a whole, but not necessarily when examining only individual families. So on the whole, it's mom's job to kiss the boo-boos and dad's job to keep you in line.
When you choose to have a child without a binded partner, the child pays the highest price even though you must do the double parenting. I'm sure you have enough love, but it takes much more than that to raise a descent human being. Boys must be tought how to be good men, and girls must be shown how a good man treats his woman. Kids who grow up with fathers in the home have more self respect, less teen sex, get more education, and stay out of jail at higher rates than those who don't. It's not just the facts, it's also common sense.
I did remarry, and my sons have the greates dad in the world whom they love, respect and try to emulate, which is a good thing. I think they will make excellent fathers themselves one day, sometime after they're all grown and married.
In the meantime, there is a new kind of elephant emerging as the long term survivor of this battle-it seems that once in a while a genetic mutation retards the growth of the tusks of elephants. If he is a male, he's in luck-poachers won't want him, and he has a better chance of survival and passing on his genes than his big tusked brothers. Scientist say there is a countable increase of the 'tuskless' mutants as evolution-the adaption of favorable genetic changes-takes place right before our very eyes. So it seems the elephants will survive, but will we?
Please don't be the poacher of the future generation's parents. Don't have children without a socially, financially and legally vested partner. Mother nature doesn't want you to, and neither do your fellow humans who have to live with your choices and their consequences.