ABOVE: Three male elephants walk towards a banana plantation in the outskirts of Bangalore, India.
FEP, NISHANT SRINIVASAIAH
Male Asian elephants are usually solitary or travel with mixed-sex groups through the forests of India, but biologists report that they are now forming long-term, all-male packs, in a study published in Scientific Reports on July 4. The researchers looked through nearly 1,500 photographs of 248 individual male elephants over a 23-month period and found that adolescent males formed large groups when they were in non-forested areas.
Male Asian elephants sometimes put themselves at risk by foraging in agricultural areas where humans may hunt or attack them and this may be why the males are now traveling together, states the report. The photos also revealed that the adolescent males in groups looked healthier than solitary adult males.
N. Srinivasaiah et al., “All-male groups in Asian elephants: a novel, adaptive social strategy...
Chia-Yi Hou is an intern at The Scientist. Email her at chou@the-scientist.com.
Interested in reading more?
The Scientist ARCHIVES
Become a Member of
