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Social Organization in Female Asian Elephants T.N.C. Vidya Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced...
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Transcript of Social Organization in Female Asian Elephants T.N.C. Vidya Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced...
![Page 1: Social Organization in Female Asian Elephants T.N.C. Vidya Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore.](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062511/551907d155034642428b46ee/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Social Organization in Female Asian Elephants
T.N.C. Vidya Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research,
Bangalore
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Which is the odd one out?
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Behaviour in Social Animals
Interaction between conspecifics in social animals
Ecological factorsBenefits from interacting with conspecificsConflict from conspecifics
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Degrees of Sociality
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Fission-Fusion Societies
Group sizes and compositions may vary but groups are not just random collections of individuals
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Why Elephants?
Socially advancedInhabit ecologically diverse habitats
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Study Area
Nagarahole, Bandipur National Parks, Karnataka: high elephant density, relatively good visibility
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Individuals Identified
Calf: >0-1 yrs
Juvenile: >1-5 yrs
Subadult: >5-15 yrs
Adults: >15 yrs
>5000 sightings
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Social Organization in Female Elephants
High
Low
Fre
quen
cy o
f as
soci
atio
n
Bif
urca
tion
dist
ance
Low
High
Individuals
Mother-offspring units
Family groups
Bond groups(third-tier unit)
Fourth-tier units
Qualitative family groups, joint family groups, clans (Mc Kay
1973, Kurt 1974, Sukumar 1989, Baskaran et al. 1995).
Association between individuals of “family” groups in Sri Lanka: 18-29% (Fernando and Lande 2000).
Association between individuals of family groups in Kenya: 70-90% (Moss 1988, Archie et al. 2005, Wittemyer et al. 2009).
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Fission-Fusion Societies
Fluid society
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Genetic Relatedness Between Females
Dung samples obtained upon observed defecation and DNA extracted and individuals genotyped at 14 nuclear microsatellite loci.
Sujata Kardile
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R of parent-offspring = 0.5, full siblings = 0.5 on average.
R of half sibs, parents’ siblings = 0.25 on average.
R of two randomly picked individuals in a population with no inbreeding = ~zero.
Siblings
0.25
First cousin0.125
0.5
0.5Siblings
Genetic Relatedness
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Predation
Resource availability
Dominance Relationships
High quality vs Low quality
Clumped vs Dispersed
Abundant vs Scarce(female reproductive
success limited)
Female transfer between groups
Female-bonded groups
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Predation
Resource availability
Dominance Relationships
High quality vs Low quality
Clumped vs Dispersed
Female transfer between groups
Female-bonded groups
Scramble(egalitarian society)
Contest(linear hierarchy)
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Dominance behaviours: chase, charge, displace, supplant, push, shove, lash out with trunk, kick.
Subordinate behaviours: cower, walk backwards, look backwards and walk, walk/run away from aggressor.
Dominance Interactions
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Acknowledgments:
• DST Ramanujan Fellowship, CSIR, National Geographic Society, JNCASR for funds
• State Forest Department of Karnataka for research permits, support
Arjun Ghosh
Deepika Prasad
Keerthipriya
Gunda Rajesh
Nandini Shetty Krishna
Ranga, Althaf
Hansraj Gautam
Ashok Kumar
Mihir Kulkarni
Evangeline Arulmalar