The old, white man, AWM for short, was a questionable figure long before he became a political slogan and enemy image. As Minister of Labor, Ursula von der Leyen made him the idiom of the sick man in Europe with a view to the German economy. It should be clear to everyone at Christmas how inappropriate rampant generalized polemics are in this case. If you ignore the beastliness of Catholics and Protestants in the struggle for the popularity of white old men - here Saint Nicholas, there the bearded Santa Claus - one thing remains of the AWM at the reflective time: the good image of the bringer of gifts.

The deep evolutionary roots of this cultural characteristic can no longer be denied. Deep in Africa, known to be the cradle of our species, biologists from the University of Exeter have recorded the behavior of old, "wise" elephants. The main focus of the studies in Botswana was on the effects on the herd members and especially on the effects on the other bull elephants. To make it short: every time, the researchers report in the “Proceedings of the Royal Society”, when old male elephants were present, the level of aggression among the younger bulls decreased noticeably. The opposite was true for the 281 bulls observed: The contemplation was suddenly over as soon as the old boys were absent. The aged bulls gave the herd a serenitywhich paid off especially in problematic encounters with people.

In fact, in Botswana, which is no longer so poor in elephant herds, there are more and more conflicts between humans and animals.

The government there reacts to this quite stereotypically.

She recently auctioned again 287 licenses to shoot elephants for trophy hunting.

The old bulls with their mighty tusks are particularly popular with trophy hunters.

A vicious circle: the conflicts are increasing because the cool old bulls are no longer de-escalating, and the government is reacting to the escalation with new shooting licenses.

The AWM, who could be a key to the herd's happiness, thus becomes a tragic figure.

From hero to hunted.

A cultural classic.