Wild Rituals: 10 Lessons Animals Can Teach Us about Connection, Community, and Ourselves

Author: Caitlin O’ Connell
Publisher: Chronicle Books 2021

If you’ve ever heard of a black mamba it was probably in context of its being one of the most dangerous aggressive and largest venomous snakes in Africa.  And of those who like to collect trivia on dangerous snakes, though it’s the second largest venomous snake in the world, next to king cobra, the black mamba is seven times more venomous than the cobra and can grow up to fourteen feet.

There are plenty of deadly snakes out there in Africa that don’t strike the same fear in the heart because you’d probably have to step on them to get bitten, such as the well-camouflaged puff adder.  The puff adder is reputed to be responsible for more fatalities than any other snake in Africa—despite the fact that, even when it gets going, it moves like a caterpillar, all chubby, sluggish, and slow.

Not so the mamba, which not only has deadly venom but is also incredibly aggressive when threatened.  It can rear a third of its body up off the ground to deliver multiple bites—up to twelve in a row—when just one bite would be enough to kill twenty to forty grown men.

On top of this is the fact that they are the fastest moving snakes alive and have been clocked at twelve miles per hour.  Having previously witnessed their speed and aggression, when one of these demons found their way into camp, I knew we had to plan our mamba extraction strategy very carefully.

From “Elephant Don: The Politics of a Pachyderm Posse” by Caitlin O' Connell

Caitlin and her husband have been studying Elephants at the Mushara waterhole in the Etosha National Park in Namibia for nearly 30 years.  In this book she shares her observations of animal behavior and what we can learn from those behaviors.  

Caitlin notices that humans share 50 percent of the genes with a banana, 61 percent with a fruit fly, 85 percent with a mouse, and 98 percent with a chimpanzee.  Many of the genes we share with a banana are called “housekeeping” genes, which are necessary for breathing, repair, and replication.  

Recent genetic findings point to all current life on Earth evolving from a single-celled organism that originated approximately 3.5 billion years ago.  This organism is identified as LULA (Last Universal Common Ancestor).  It took 3 billion years to evolve multicellular organisms from single-celled organisms, and Humans and bananas shared a common ancestor less than a billion years ago.

Their studies have shown that many animals experience a lot of the same emotions we do.  Young male elephants chew food for older elephants that do not have teeth anymore.  Chimpanzees enact a ritual dance at the onset of rain.  A strange ritual called “accumulative rock throwing” by chimpanzees accumulates rocks in front of specific trees.   Jane Goodall suggests that these Chimpanzee displays may be precursors of religious rituals.  Stone accumulation shrines at sacred trees are known among indigenous West African peoples, and ritual sites such as these are thought to have led to the foundation of religion.

Performing all steps of a ritual in a specific sequence requires complete focus and engaging in such rituals can relieve stress, decrease anxiety, and improve cognition.  In addition, repeating rituals can be critical for learning and long-term memory.  

This book focuses on greeting rituals, group rituals, courtship, gifting, spoken rituals, unspoken rituals, play, grieving and healing, renewal, and migration.  Caitlin claims that reconnection with the rituals that have held our ancestors—all living beings—together across time will bring us more peace and fulfillment.

Let me list a few interesting findings before ending this note.

(1) Both male and female hyenas present their erect genitalia during a greeting ceremony.

(2) For male elephants, the purposeful act of placing a trunk in a dominant male’s mouth is akin to the prime minister kissing the queen’s ring in England.

(3) In a study of fire walkers in the Mauritian Hindi community, the fire walkers reported greater happiness after having endured the ritualistic suffering.  I remember watching and enjoying such a fire walk at the flats in front of the Borella Cemetery when I was little.  One of my uncles boasted that he can walk and not run on the fire walk and that was why we went.  We had a great time watching people running, bailing out half way through, and chickening out without stepping one foot on the fire walk.  Caitlin says: “Witnessing a ritual can be equally as powerful performing it.”

(4) Flamingoes secrete the pink substance from the preening gland near the tail.  This labour intensive application of “makeup” only lasts a few days.  The color needs to be reapplied every few days.

(5) The gestation time for an elephant is almost two years, and a calf nursers for another two years, and a mature female only comes into estrus once every four to six years.

(6) Killer whales benefit by sharing a carcass of a seal because multiple whales feeding on the seal will keep it afloat for longer than if a single individual were feeding on it.

Let me finish this note with a teaser from the book.

... Almost every culture and musical genre—from classical, rock, R&B, jazz, and country to opera—uses yodeling.  The song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” incorporates yodeling that you may not realize is there.  Even Adele uses a form of yodeling in her songs.

This is another great book by Caitlin.