Understanding the behaviour of Male Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus) in a human-dominated landscape

Abstract

Asian elephants can exhibit complexity in social behaviour due to their longevity, behavioural plasticity and high cognitive abilities. Consequently, various behavioural changes have been studied in this species, including males exhibiting association in all-male groups in human-dominated areas as a response to increasing anthropogenic pressure. These associations highlight the importance of male sociality in shaping an individual's social behaviour and enhancing their body condition and reproductive success. The state of musth, characterised by increased levels of androgens in male elephants, is a significant factor affecting the behaviour and physiology of an individual male. Therefore, for this study, we selected 47 bulls from our study area to assess whether or not musth affects the spatial distribution of male Asian elephants in the eastern ghats of Karnataka. We found that younger males (N=20) exhibit a staggered musth pattern compared to long and continuous musth periods in older males (N=27). Moreover, Adolescents and young adult males maintain longer distances from older adults in musth (P=0.268, difference in medians of distances(m), N=1957). Further, irrespective of the maturity status, all males, when in musth, were found closer to herds (P<0.01, difference in medians of distances(metres), N=2528). Finally, on analysing at an individual level, we found that even though at a population level, one may observe a pattern in the effect of musth on the spatial distribution of male elephants, a similar pattern may not hold at an individual level which maybe due to the idiosyncratic behaviours of the individuals. Musth in elephants has been a topic of detailed research in both Asian and African elephants. However, analysis of the effect of musth spatially at the scale of a landscape has probably been conducted for the first time through this study. Since our study area also comprises locations with high human activity, we also examined the vocal repertoire of elephants in a high-human use area. We found out that the vocal activity of elephants in a human-dominated area is high during the night, and the repertoire has a higher proportion of calls like trumpets, roar-rumbles and chirps that are often produced in response to threat and display of annoyance and agression towards conspecifics as well as other species.