What are the behavioral consequences of lack of space?
Confined in a small space with very few, if any, social partners and minimal or no autonomy over their lives, zoo elephants have very little to do each day. Being intelligent animals, they become bored. Boredom itself leads to a variety of behavioral problems including heightened aggression, in some cases, and neurotic or stereotypic behavior, such as rocking back and forth, in others. Some elephants are known to pull repeatedly on their own nipples until they are abnormally elongated; others chew on the ears of others, until physical damage is caused. Much of elephant behavior is learned through watching others and through experience. Lack of social learning may well account for the high rates of abnormal mothering behavior, maternal rejection and infanticide.
