Social Organization in Female Asian Elephants
T.N.C. Vidya Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research,
Bangalore
Which is the odd one out?
Behaviour in Social Animals
Interaction between conspecifics in social animals
Ecological factorsBenefits from interacting with conspecificsConflict from conspecifics
Degrees of Sociality
Fission-Fusion Societies
Group sizes and compositions may vary but groups are not just random collections of individuals
Why Elephants?
Socially advancedInhabit ecologically diverse habitats
Study Area
Nagarahole, Bandipur National Parks, Karnataka: high elephant density, relatively good visibility
Individuals Identified
Calf: >0-1 yrs
Juvenile: >1-5 yrs
Subadult: >5-15 yrs
Adults: >15 yrs
>5000 sightings
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).
Fission-Fusion Societies
Fluid society
Genetic Relatedness Between Females
Dung samples obtained upon observed defecation and DNA extracted and individuals genotyped at 14 nuclear microsatellite loci.
Sujata Kardile
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
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
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)
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
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
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