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"If you were an elephant, you’d follow a labyrinth of old roads, relying on the wisdom of long-dead elephants, now passed down to your matriarch. You’d have the happiest kind of political system, run by wise old women, appointed for their knowledge of the world and their judgment, uninterested in hierarchy for hierarchy’s sake, and seeking the greatest good for the greatest number.” - Charles Foster, On Being an Elephant

If we could take a lesson from the elephants, we "wise apes" would be a lot better off.  They are so connected to each other, and rely on the elders to show them the paths and ways to be, just as many indigenous people have done in the past.  I adore elephants and especially the hairy little baby Indian elephants.  Newborn elephants don’t  know how to use their trunks, or how to get them out of the way.  They have to figure out how to control the 40,000 muscles that it contains.  Compare that to a human with 600 muscles in their entire body!   Baby elephants  sometimes even trip over their noses, but soon babies realize it is their special appendage.  It is so sensitive, it can pick up a marble or conversely, smash walls.  Their sense of smell is twice as great as a bloodhound, making them able to locate food and water from as far away as 10 miles.  You would be able to comfort others with that trunk, and carry and caress the dead’s bones. They grieve the deaths of others, cover the bodies with soil and vegetation.  They have empathy and lifelong bonds.  They tune into others miles away through inaudible rumbles. They feel things deeply. They are better people than many humans.