Follow

Walking after, trying to maintain close proximity, though not necessarily physical contact, to another individual. 

In a Calf Reassurance & Protection context infants and calves typically Follow their mothers or other care-givers. Infants are born with an innate drive to Follow and they walk after the wrong individual. Mothers and allomothers are, thus, primarily responsible for maintaining proximity to very young calves and are often seen to Follow and Retrieve them. In an Affiliative or Movement Space & Leadership context members of a family Follow the lead of adult females, as in during Movement-Initiation. During Social-Play elephants may Follow one another as they cavort and Spar with one another. In the Context of Courtship a guarding male may Follow an estrous female, or an estrous female may Follow a high ranking male. In this particular case, where the distance between the pair and who is responsible for mainting proximity, changes in a predictable way depending on how many competitors there are and as the course of estrus progresses, the behavior is referred to as Maintain-Proximity.   

References: Lee 1987, Poole 1989b, 2011, Poole & Granli 2011. (Full reference list)

This behavior occurs in the following context(s): Affiliative, Calf Reassurance & Protection, Courtship, Movement, Space & Leadership, Social Play