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359 results for “Elephant”
Genetic connectivity and population structure of African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) in Tanzania
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Elephant seal female breeding histories at Año Nuevo
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Data from: Density-dependent effects on reproductive output in a capital breeding carnivore, the northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris)
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Sealing. Circular sealing in terracotta with a two line inscription; above a discus. On the reverse a hooked device, possibly an elephant goad.
<p>Sealing. Circular sealing in terracotta with a two line inscription; above a discus. On the reverse a hooked device, possibly an elephant goad. British Museum 2005,0814.11.</p>
Data from: The role of volatile plant secondary metabolites as pre-ingestive cues and potential toxins dictating diet selection by African elephants
Understanding the factors driving diet selection represents one of the main thrusts of contemporary foraging ecology. Many studies have focussed on nutritional factors and anti-nutritional factors (such as tannins) that may describe diet selection of generalist mammalian herbivores, but these often do not explain the observed feeding patterns. Alternatively, generalist herbivores may be influenced by the presence, diversity, and/or concentration of toxins. Plant volatiles have been understudied, yet may play an important role in this context. We aimed to determine whether diet selection by African elephants is better correlated with the presence and concentration of toxic plant secondary metabolites (PSMs) than with nutritional or anti-nutritional factors. We also aimed to identify the specific aspects of the plant-odour profiles that were correlated with dietary selection, which could be used as a pre-ingestive cue for food selection. We found that elephant diet selection was not well described by crude protein, in vitro digestibility, tannin concentration, and total polyphenol concentration. Instead, the best predictors of elephant diet choice were the number and absolute (total) emissions of potentially toxic volatile PSMs, specifically monoterpenes. Elephants avoided plant species that emitted a wider diversity of volatile PSMs, had higher total emissions, and higher numbers and emissions of monoterpenes. This suggests that PSMs with a high propensity to become toxins, such as monoterpenes, are likely a better indicator for elephant diet avoidance than nutritional or anti-nutritional factors. Moreover, we demonstrated that elephants can differentiate between food items based on odour alone, specifically volatile monoterpenes, suggesting that these animals are relying on specific volatile cues emitted from plants to direct their foraging choices prior to ingesting selected plants.
Data from: Body reserves influence allocation to immune responses in capital breeding female northern elephant seals
Mounting an immune response requires substantial energy. Ecological immunology theory predicts allocation trade-offs between reproductive effort and immune responses under conditions of energy limitation. Little is known about the impact of capital breeding strategies on energy allocation to immune function in mammals. Northern elephant seals (NES) forage in the marine environment, breed in dense terrestrial colonies and exhibit high rates of energy expenditure for lactation while fasting. Body reserves strongly influence reproductive effort and lactation requires elevation of plasma cortisol for energy mobilization. We characterized immune response by measuring a suite of immune markers including cytokines, an acute phase protein, and immunoglobulins early and late in breeding and moult haul-outs in 197 samples from 129 female NES. We explored potential impacts of breeding, body condition and plasma cortisol on immune function. Immune responses were greater and more varied during breeding. Adiposity had positive associations with innate immune responses across all life-history stages. Body mass had positive associations with both adaptive and innate immune responses early in fasts. Females with lower fat reserves showed reduced innate immune responses at the end of lactation. Immunoglobulin E, a marker of immune response to parasitic infection, exhibited a significant negative association with cortisol across all life-history stages. These data suggest that breeding carries an immune cost and provide evidence for allocation trade-offs between immune function and breeding effort. These trade-offs may reflect a compromise between immune costs inherent in colonial breeding and energetic limitations that arise in use of capital breeding strategies. Variation in evidence for immunosuppressive effects of cortisol suggests that decoupling of these effects may be limited to specific aspects of the immune response during terrestrial fasting. Immune responses that are required for survival may be modulated relative to the energetic demands required for successful reproduction.
Data from: Temporal stability in a male African elephant social network
Social animals live in complex and variable socio-ecological environments where individuals adapt their behaviour to local conditions. Recently, there have been calls for studies of animal social networks to take account of temporal dynamics in social relationships as these have implications for the spread of information and disease, group cohesion, and the drivers of sociality, and there is evidence that maintaining stable social relationships has fitness benefits. It has recently been recognised that male elephants form strong social bonds with other males. The nature of these relationships, and thus network structure, may vary over time in response to environmental conditions and as individuals age. Using social network analysis, we examine the stability of relationships and network centrality in a population of male African elephants. Our results suggest that males may maintain stable social relationships with others over time. Older males show greater stability in network centrality than younger males, suggesting younger males face uncertainty in transitioning to adult society. For elephants, where older individuals function as social repositories of knowledge, maintaining a social network underpinned by older males could be of particular importance.
Data from: Solar radiation during rewarming from torpor in elephant shrews: supplementation or substitution of endogenous heat production?
Many small mammals bask in the sun during rewarming from heterothermy, but the implications of this behaviour for their energy balance remain little understood. Specifically, it remains unclear whether solar radiation supplements endogenous metabolic thermogenesis (i.e., rewarming occurs through the additive effects of internally-produced and external heat), or whether solar radiation reduces the energy required to rewarm by substituting (i.e, replacing) metabolic heat production. To address this question, we examined patterns of torpor and rewarming rates in eastern rock elephant shrews (Elephantulus myurus) housed in outdoor cages with access to either natural levels of solar radiation or levels that were experimentally reduced by means of shade cloth. We also tested whether acclimation to solar radiation availability was manifested via phenotypic flexibility in basal metabolic rate (BMR), non-shivering thermogenesis (NST) capacity and/or summit metabolism (Msum). Rewarming rates varied significantly among treatments, with elephant shrews experiencing natural solar radiation levels rewarming faster than conspecifics experiencing solar radiation levels equivalent to approximately 20% or 40% of natural levels. BMR differed significantly between individuals experiencing natural levels of solar radiation and conspecifics experiencing approximately 20% of natural levels, but no between-treatment difference was evident for NST capacity or Msum. The positive relationship between solar radiation availability and rewarming rate, together with the absence of acclimation in maximum non-shivering and total heat production capacities, suggests that under the conditions of this study solar radiation supplemented rather than substituted metabolic thermogenesis as a source of heat during rewarming from heterothermy.
Data from: Movement reveals reproductive tactics in male elephants
1. Long-term bio-logging has the potential to reveal how movements, and hence life history trade-offs, vary over a lifetime. Reproductive tactics in particular may vary as individuals' trade-off current investment versus lifetime fitness. Male African savannah elephants (Loxodona africana) provide a telling example of balancing body growth with reproductive fitness due to the combination of indeterminate growth and strongly delineated periods of sexual activity (musth), which results in reproductive tactics that alter with age. 2. Our study aims to quantify the extent to which male elephants alter their movement patterns, and hence energetic allocation, in relation to (i) reproductive state and (ii) age, and (iii) to determine if musth periods can be detected directly from GPS tracking data. 3. We used a combination of GPS tracking data and visual observations of 25 male elephants ranging in age from 20-52 years to examine the influence of reproductive state and age on movement. We then used a three-state hidden Markov model (HMM) to detect musth behaviour in a subset of sequential tracking data. 4. Our results demonstrate male elephants increase their daily mean speed and range size with age and in musth. Furthermore, non-musth speed decreased with age, presumably reflecting a shift towards energy acquisition during non-musth. Thus, despite similar speeds and marginally larger ranges between states at age 20, by age 50 males were travelling 2.0 times faster in 3.5 times larger area in musth relative to non-musth. The distinctiveness of musth periods over age 35 meant the three-state HMM could automatically detect musth movement with high sensitivity and specificity, but could not for the younger age class. 5. We show that male elephants increase their energetic allocation into reproduction with age as the probability of reproductive success increases. Given that older male elephants tend to be both the target of legal trophy hunting and illegal poaching, man-made interference could drive fundamental changes in elephant reproductive tactics. Bio-logging, as our study reveals, has the potential both to quantify mature elephant reproductive tactics remotely and to be used to institute proactive management strategies around the reproductive behaviour of this charismatic keystone species.
Data from: Is bigger better? The relationship between size and reproduction in female Asian elephants
The limited availability of resources is predicted to impose trade-offs between growth, reproduction and self-maintenance in animals. However, although some studies have shown that early reproduction suppresses growth, reproduction positively correlates with size in others. We use detailed records from a large population of semi-captive elephants in Myanmar to assess the relationships between size (height and weight), reproduction and survival in female Asian elephants, a species characterized by slow, costly life history. Although female height gain during the growth period overlapped little with reproductive onset in the population, there was large variation in age at first reproduction and only 81% of final weight had been reached by peak age of reproduction at the population level (19 years). Those females beginning reproduction early tended to be taller and lighter later in life, although these trends were not significant. We found that taller females were more likely to have reproduced by a given age, but such effects diminished with age, suggesting there may be a size threshold to reproduction which is especially important in young females. Because size was not linked with female survival during reproductive ages, the diminishing effect of height on reproduction with age is unlikely to be due to biased survival of larger females. We conclude that although reproduction may not always impose significant costs on growth, height may be a limiting factor to reproduction in young female Asian elephants, which could have important implications considering their birth rates are low and peak reproduction is young – 19 years in this population.
Data from: Woody plant biomass and carbon exchange depend on elephant-fire interactions across a productivity gradient in African savanna
Elephants and fire are individually well-known disturbance agents within savanna ecosystems, but their interactive role in governing tree-cover dynamics and savanna–forest biome boundaries remains unresolved. Of central importance are the mechanisms by which elephants vs. fire affect tree biomass and cover, and how – over long time periods – both factors interact with rainfall and soils to govern tree biomass and carbon dynamics. Here, we evaluated the response of woody vegetation to 56 years of fire manipulation in South Africa's Kruger National Park, with three fire regimes (annual, triennial and unburned) replicated across a productivity gradient and subject to two periods of contrasting elephant abundances (generated by the cessation of culling in 1994). Higher fire frequencies had a negative effect on woody biomass in the low-elephant period, but this effect was weak to negligible in the high-elephant period as the difference among fire treatments diminished. Moreover, elephants removed increasing amounts of woody biomass as productivity increased across study sites, but fire did not. We infer that elephant-induced tree mortality could overcome increases in woody-plant productivity, while fire-induced mortality alone could not. Elephants caused woody-plant carbon to shift from a sink to a source; this effect was independent of fire treatment, with highest rates of net carbon removal in the wettest and most productive site. Synthesis. Our results reveal a context-dependent interaction between fire and elephants as disturbance agents in savanna: the influence of fire on woody plants was sensitive to the abundance of elephants and diminished with increased plant productivity. In contrast, elephants were capable of shifting landscapes from relatively dense woodland to open savanna, even in unburned sites, and exerted strong impacts irrespective of site conditions and plant productivity.
Data from: Maternal age at birth shapes offspring life-history trajectory across generations in long-lived Asian elephants
1. Advanced maternal age at birth can have pronounced consequences for offspring health, survival and reproduction. If carried over to the next generation, such fitness effects could have important implications for population dynamics and the evolution of ageing, but these remain poorly understood. While many laboratory studies have investigated maternal age effects, relatively few studies have been conducted in natural populations, and they usually only present a "snapshot" of an offspring's lifetime. 2. In the present study, we focus on how maternal age influences offspring life-history trajectories and performance in a long-lived mammal. 3. We use a multigenerational demographic dataset of semi-captive Asian elephants to investigate maternal age effects on several offspring life-history traits: condition, reproductive success, and overall survival. 4. We show that offspring born to older mothers display reduced overall survival but higher reproductive success, and reduced survival of their own progeny. Our results show evidence of a persistent effect of maternal age on fitness across generations in a long-lived mammal. 5. By highlighting transgenerational effects on the fitness of the next generation associated with maternal age, the present study helps increase our understanding of factors contributing to individual variation in ageing rates and fitness.
Data from: Oxidative stress is a potential cost of breeding in male and female northern elephant seals.
1.The trade-off between current reproductive effort and survival is a key concept of life history theory. A variety of studies support the existence of this trade-off but the underlying physiological mechanisms are not well-understood. Oxidative stress has been proposed as a potential mechanism underlying the observed inverse relationship between reproductive investment and lifespan. Prolonged fasting is associated with oxidative stress including increases in the production of reactive oxygen species, oxidative damage and inflammation. 2.Northern elephant seals (NES) undergo prolonged fasts while maintaining high metabolic rates during breeding. We investigated NES of both sexes to assess oxidative stress associated with extended breeding fasts. We measured changes in the plasma activity or concentrations of markers for oxidative stress in 30 adult male and 33 adult female northern elephant seals across their 1-3 month breeding fasts. Markers assessed included a pro-oxidant enzyme, several antioxidant enzymes, markers for oxidative damage to lipids, proteins and DNA, and markers for systemic inflammation. 3.Plasma xanthine oxidase (XO), a pro-oxidant enzyme that increases production of oxidative radicals, and several protective antioxidant enzymes increased over breeding in both sexes. Males showed increased oxidative damage to lipids and DNA and increased systemic inflammation, while oxidative damage to proteins declined across breeding. In contrast, females showed no oxidative damage to lipids or DNA or changes in inflammation, but showed increases in oxidative damage to proteins. XO activity, antioxidant enzymes, oxidative damage markers, and inflammatory markers were strongly correlated in males but these relationships were weaker or non-existent in females. 4.NES provide evidence for oxidative stress as a physiological cost of reproduction in a capital breeding mammal. Both sexes strongly up-regulated antioxidant defenses during breeding. Despite this response, and in contrast to similar duration non-breeding fasts in previous studies on conspecifics, there was evidence of oxidative damage to tissues. These data demonstrate the utility of using plasma markers to examine oxidative stress but also suggest the necessity of measuring a broad suite of plasma markers to assess systemic oxidative stress.
Transect and plot data from: Fruit trees drive small-scale movement of elephants in Kibale National Park, Uganda
<p>Understanding what motivates animal spatial behavior requires discerning the relationship between animals and the landscape in which they move. Many studies have focused on large scale trends that drive migrations and movement across broad landscapes, but few studies have focused on drivers of local movement within smaller areas based on fine–scale landscape heterogeneity. This is especially true for African elephants (Loxodonta africana), whose movements in relation to landscape variables have frequently been studied across vast areas, but infrequently on a small scale. We report on how the local distribution of an important resource—fruit trees—shapes elephant movement patterns in Kibale National Park, Uganda. We hypothesized that the spatial location of elephant trails, and especially intersections in the network of trails, would be heavily associated with fruit trees, with trail density being higher in areas with greater fruit availability. Elephant trails and nearby fruit trees were mapped within a 64-km2 area within the interior of the Park. Trail and fruit tree sampling were conducted along sixteen evenly spaced one-km control transects and compared to 28.6 km of elephant trails arrayed throughout the park. Fruit tree basal area was higher along trails and at trail intersections. Trail density was also positively correlated with fruit tree density. Fruit trees may thus serve as a determinant of small-scale elephant movement and could be used to predict patterns of elephant spatial behavior across forested habitat, which has potential implications for elephant management in the area. </p>
Fig. 1 in First Report of Elephant Beetles in the Genus Xylotrupes Hope (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) Attacking Guava
Fig. 1. Extensive damage to guava fruit by Xylotrupes siamensis.
Fig. 2. Xylotrupes siamensis attacking a in First Report of Elephant Beetles in the Genus Xylotrupes Hope (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) Attacking Guava
Fig. 2. Xylotrupes siamensis attacking a mature guava fruit, accompanied by drosophilid flies.
Giant sengi or elephant-shrew (Rhynchocyon species) interactions with Red-Capped Robin-Chat (Cossypha natalensis) and White-Chested Alethe (Chamaetylas fuelleborni) in Tanzania
<p>Using camera traps and direct observations, we recorded interactions between three species of giant sengi (<em>Rhynchocyon sp.</em>) and two insectivorous bird species from five forests in Tanzania. In all instances, the birds closely followed the giant sengis who were moving and foraging in the leaf litter. Given the two bird species are insectivorous and follow ant swarms to obtain flushed prey, these interactions suggest that following the sengi represents an adaptive foraging strategy. Our observations indicate that these behaviors and associations may be more pervasive than previously thought.</p>
FIGURE 3 in The inner morphology of the petrosal bone of the endemic elephant of Tilos Island, Greece
FIGURE 3. The bony labyrinth of the three samples of Palaeoloxodon tiliensis. A, cochlear ventral view; B, anterior view. See text for abbreviations.
FIGURE 1 in The inner morphology of the petrosal bone of the endemic elephant of Tilos Island, Greece
FIGURE 1. Measurements performed on the labyrinth and the cochlea. A, B and C the planes that the angles were measured between the respective canals A, anterior- lateral; B, anterior-posterior; C, lateral-posterior; D, the width and height of the canals and the overall length of the labyrinth; and E, width and height of the cochlea.
Elephant
<p>Elephant.</p>
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