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Male African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) Behavioral Responses to Estrous Call Playbacks May Inform Conservation Management Tools
SIMPLE SUMMARY: During annual periods of heightened sexual activity (musth), male African elephants expend a significant amount of energy communicating their reproductive status, as well as searching and competing for potential mates. To locate females, musth males may risk venturing outside protect...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9102362/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35565588 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani12091162 |
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author | O’Connell-Rodwell, Caitlin E. Sandri, Monica N. Berezin, Jodie L. Munevar, Jaquelyn M. Kinzley, Colleen Wood, Jason D. Wiśniewska, Maggie Kilian, J. Werner |
author_facet | O’Connell-Rodwell, Caitlin E. Sandri, Monica N. Berezin, Jodie L. Munevar, Jaquelyn M. Kinzley, Colleen Wood, Jason D. Wiśniewska, Maggie Kilian, J. Werner |
author_sort | O’Connell-Rodwell, Caitlin E. |
collection | PubMed |
description | SIMPLE SUMMARY: During annual periods of heightened sexual activity (musth), male African elephants expend a significant amount of energy communicating their reproductive status, as well as searching and competing for potential mates. To locate females, musth males may risk venturing outside protected areas and into landscapes shared with humans where conflict between wildlife and people can occur. Adverse interactions between elephants and people can be detrimental to human livelihoods, resulting in negative attitudes towards elephants and, in some cases, retaliatory killings. Interactions with aggressive musth males can also be life-threatening to community members who attempt to confront them. Mitigation strategies that effectively target the reproductive motivations of musth males may offer solutions as the human–elephant interface continues to expand. In this study, we build on earlier research showing that playbacks of female elephant reproductive calls, (i.e., estrous rumbles) can change the movement trajectory and behavior of male elephants in Etosha National Park, Namibia. Individuals belonging to three male groups were opportunistically subjected to playback experiments and evaluated based on their reaction intensity. Our results demonstrate that mature musth adults are more likely to change directions and approach the source of a female’s estrous call than mature, sexually-inactive adult elephants. We also show that post-dispersal young males that were not in musth also respond strongly to the stimulus. These findings support further exploration of mitigation solutions that incorporate elephant behavior, reproductive status, and context-specific vocalizations. ABSTRACT: Driven by reproductive motives, male African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in musth often expand their home ranges to locate estrous females. This extended range, coupled with heightened aggression often observed in musth males, can be particularly problematic in regions where human-modified landscapes and elephant territories increasingly overlap. Several mitigation tools have been tested to resolve a wide range of human–elephant conflicts with varying degrees of success due to geographical disparities and habituation. We present findings on the potential application of estrous call playbacks in manipulating the behavior and movement of male elephants non-invasively, particularly mature musth adults and younger post-dispersal males, in Etosha National Park. Estrous vocalizations were presented across 26 experimental trials to mature musth adults (n = 5), mature non-musth adults (n = 6), and non-musth males belonging to younger, post-dispersal age classes (n = 8), with behavioral responses scored on a gradient scale from 0–1. Both mature musth adults and younger non-musth elephants were significantly more likely to respond with the highest intensity by approaching the acoustic source compared to mature non-musth adults that avoided the call. However, younger males tested in the presence of an older, higher-ranking male tended to react with a lower intensity than those tested alone. This result likely demonstrates the influence of social hierarchy and associations on male elephant behavior. We also observed a significant increase in physiological response, measured by defecation rate, across all male groups in response to the estrous call playbacks. Our findings suggest that using estrous calls as acoustic deterrents may effectively and non-invasively aid in reducing tension at the human–elephant interface, depending on the age, social context, and reproductive status of the male elephant. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9102362 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-91023622022-05-14 Male African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) Behavioral Responses to Estrous Call Playbacks May Inform Conservation Management Tools O’Connell-Rodwell, Caitlin E. Sandri, Monica N. Berezin, Jodie L. Munevar, Jaquelyn M. Kinzley, Colleen Wood, Jason D. Wiśniewska, Maggie Kilian, J. Werner Animals (Basel) Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: During annual periods of heightened sexual activity (musth), male African elephants expend a significant amount of energy communicating their reproductive status, as well as searching and competing for potential mates. To locate females, musth males may risk venturing outside protected areas and into landscapes shared with humans where conflict between wildlife and people can occur. Adverse interactions between elephants and people can be detrimental to human livelihoods, resulting in negative attitudes towards elephants and, in some cases, retaliatory killings. Interactions with aggressive musth males can also be life-threatening to community members who attempt to confront them. Mitigation strategies that effectively target the reproductive motivations of musth males may offer solutions as the human–elephant interface continues to expand. In this study, we build on earlier research showing that playbacks of female elephant reproductive calls, (i.e., estrous rumbles) can change the movement trajectory and behavior of male elephants in Etosha National Park, Namibia. Individuals belonging to three male groups were opportunistically subjected to playback experiments and evaluated based on their reaction intensity. Our results demonstrate that mature musth adults are more likely to change directions and approach the source of a female’s estrous call than mature, sexually-inactive adult elephants. We also show that post-dispersal young males that were not in musth also respond strongly to the stimulus. These findings support further exploration of mitigation solutions that incorporate elephant behavior, reproductive status, and context-specific vocalizations. ABSTRACT: Driven by reproductive motives, male African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in musth often expand their home ranges to locate estrous females. This extended range, coupled with heightened aggression often observed in musth males, can be particularly problematic in regions where human-modified landscapes and elephant territories increasingly overlap. Several mitigation tools have been tested to resolve a wide range of human–elephant conflicts with varying degrees of success due to geographical disparities and habituation. We present findings on the potential application of estrous call playbacks in manipulating the behavior and movement of male elephants non-invasively, particularly mature musth adults and younger post-dispersal males, in Etosha National Park. Estrous vocalizations were presented across 26 experimental trials to mature musth adults (n = 5), mature non-musth adults (n = 6), and non-musth males belonging to younger, post-dispersal age classes (n = 8), with behavioral responses scored on a gradient scale from 0–1. Both mature musth adults and younger non-musth elephants were significantly more likely to respond with the highest intensity by approaching the acoustic source compared to mature non-musth adults that avoided the call. However, younger males tested in the presence of an older, higher-ranking male tended to react with a lower intensity than those tested alone. This result likely demonstrates the influence of social hierarchy and associations on male elephant behavior. We also observed a significant increase in physiological response, measured by defecation rate, across all male groups in response to the estrous call playbacks. Our findings suggest that using estrous calls as acoustic deterrents may effectively and non-invasively aid in reducing tension at the human–elephant interface, depending on the age, social context, and reproductive status of the male elephant. MDPI 2022-05-01 /pmc/articles/PMC9102362/ /pubmed/35565588 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani12091162 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article O’Connell-Rodwell, Caitlin E. Sandri, Monica N. Berezin, Jodie L. Munevar, Jaquelyn M. Kinzley, Colleen Wood, Jason D. Wiśniewska, Maggie Kilian, J. Werner Male African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) Behavioral Responses to Estrous Call Playbacks May Inform Conservation Management Tools |
title | Male African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) Behavioral Responses to Estrous Call Playbacks May Inform Conservation Management Tools |
title_full | Male African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) Behavioral Responses to Estrous Call Playbacks May Inform Conservation Management Tools |
title_fullStr | Male African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) Behavioral Responses to Estrous Call Playbacks May Inform Conservation Management Tools |
title_full_unstemmed | Male African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) Behavioral Responses to Estrous Call Playbacks May Inform Conservation Management Tools |
title_short | Male African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) Behavioral Responses to Estrous Call Playbacks May Inform Conservation Management Tools |
title_sort | male african elephant (loxodonta africana) behavioral responses to estrous call playbacks may inform conservation management tools |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9102362/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35565588 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani12091162 |
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