The Big Five

What can we learn from the wild?

- Bryan Havemann

Africa is the continent in which the term “The Big Five” was coined decades back and used to market and promote photographic safaris. It refers to the elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion and leopard that most tourists want to see and tick off their list when visiting Africa.

The phrase originated as a hunting term − any hunter who wanted a claim to fame would have to have hunted all five species. In the last century, there was an abundance of all these species in Africa, but because of human pressures and shrinking habitats, their numbers are dwindling in all areas except well-managed reserves.

A well-known theory of personality identifies the “Big 5” traits as Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism and Openness. Based on my experience with biodiversity conservation, I see a parallel link in the big animals. The lion is the extrovert, characterised by traits of excitability, sociability, talkativeness, assertiveness, and high amounts of emotional expressiveness. The elephant fits the mould of agreeableness with traits of trust, kindness, affection and altruism. The leopard matches conscientiousness, with its attributes of thoughtfulness, good impulse-control, and goal-directed behaviours. Neuroticism nails the buffalo, characterised by sadness, moodiness, and emotional instability. The Rhino’s imagination and insight place it in the openness spectrum, associated with adventurous types who have a broad range of interests.

Lion

The lion has the reputation as the King of Beasts, and for this reason is classed as an extrovert.