African elephants (Loxodonta africana) live in stable, socially complex, multi-female groups, characterized by female philopatry, male dispersal and linear dominance hierarchies. Elephant social behavior suggests that individuals use odor to monitor the sex, reproductive status, location, health, identity and social status of conspecifics. However, to date, it was not clear what fixed or variable information is contained in African elephant secretions, and whether odor encodes kinship or group membership information.
University of Queensland’s Professor Louw Hoffman and his colleagues studied 15 family groups of African elephants in Majete Wildlife Reserve, Malawi.
They found that smell was used to distinguish characteristics including age, health, reproductive status and family relationships between elephants.
“We tested the DNA, glands, urine and manure of 113 African elephants to identify family groupings,” Professor Hoffman said.
“We found a number of chemicals were common to group members, but others that were unique to each individual.”
“Elephants never mate with a sibling, even if they’ve been separated for years and can tell a strange elephant is close by from the smell of their manure or other excretions.”
Social behavior also suggests elephants use odor to monitor other pachyderms, both within and outside their herd.
“We observed elephants greeting each other by squealing and flapping their ears,” Professor Hoffman explained.
“We believe they’re pushing their pheromones towards the other elephant as a sign of recognition.”
“When elephants charge each other flapping their ears, rather than making themselves look bigger, we believe they’re blowing their pheromones as a warning not to mess with them.”
The elephants not only identify different smells quickly, but also retain them in their memory.
“Some of the animals in the study were bred in captivity, and one of the tricks they’d been taught was to take a…
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