Young Asian elephants form all-male groups to survive

JULY 8, 2019 REPORT

by Bob Yirka , Phys.org

A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in India has found evidence of young Asian elephants forming all-male groups as a way to survive. In their paper published in the journal Scientific Reports, the group describes their study of the elephants in different parts of India, and what they found.

Asian elephants are not doing well—as humans increasingly encroach on their territory, elephants find survival more difficult. Some die due to poaching, but others are killed when they damage croplands or wander into populated areas. The researchers with this new effort report that some of the young male elephants have been adapting their behavior to give themselves a better chance of surviving—they have been forming groups instead of hanging out alone.

In the past, as male elephants grew old enough to become sexually mature, they would wander away from their families and head off alone into the wild. Typically, they would look for an area with enough food and locally available, sexually mature females. But now, conditions are changing, the researchers report—instead of heading off alone, young males have started joining up with other young males, forming groups.

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India's 'granny' elephant dies aged 88

February 7, 2019

An Asian elephant believed to be the oldest ever in captivity has died aged 88 in the southern Indian state of Kerala, officials said Thursday.

Awarded the title of "Gaja Muthassi" (elephant granny), Dakshayani took part in temple rituals and processions for decades, but breathed her last on Tuesday after becoming reluctant to eat, her veterinary surgeon said.

"At 3 pm, a sudden shiver passed through her large frame beginning from the head region. After a few minutes she bent her forelimbs and lay down. And that was it," T. Rajeev told AFP.

The Travancore Devaswom Board, which owned Dakshayani, gave her age as 88.

The oldest elephant in captivity recognised by Guinness World Records was aged 86—Lin Wang, another Asian elephant which died in 2003 in a Taiwan zoo. Captive elephants have a life expectancy of 40-plus years.

Pineapples and carrots had been introduced to Dakshayani's diet in recent years to improve her metabolism after she began to have difficulty moving around, probably due to reduced eyesight.

"For the past three years she did not take part in any temple programme or public function," Rajeev said.

"And a couple of months back, we had even moved her to a better tethering place at an elephant farm in Thiruvananthapuram."

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Dwarf elephant beats up big rival

The first recorded animal of its kind fights and beats a larger opponent

Talk about having a big personality.

Scientists have spotted and filmed a dwarf male Asian elephant wandering the forests of Sri Lanka.

The elephant has a normal-sized head and body, but very short and stubby legs.

Thought to be the first of his kind ever recorded, the elephant surprised the researchers further by engaging in his very own rumble in the jungle.

In a series of extraordinary encounters in the Uda Walawe National Park, the elephant, nicknamed the Walawe Dwarf by observers, waged an all-out battle against a full-sized male elephant.

What’s more, he appeared to be winning.

At the time, I didn't even notice it was a dwarf

Elephant researcher Shermin de Silva, Director of the Uda Walawe Elephant Research Project, and her colleagues, reported their encounters with the dwarf in the journal BMC Research Notes.

Barely two metres tall, the Walawe Dwarf, according to the researchers, is the first confirmed case of disproportionate dwarfism in a fully-grown Asian elephant (Elephas maximus maximus) in the wild. His condition is most likely caused by a genetic mutation resulting in disproportionately short limbs.

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Centuries-Old Elephant Imposter Unmasked

Nov. 5, 2013 — Through state-of-the-art ancient DNA and protein research and an exhaustive investigation of historical literature, researchers have determined a 300-year-old type specimen for Asian elephants is actually an African elephant.

In a study in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, led by Enrico Cappellini and Thomas Gilbert in Denmark, researchers have established a new specimen to represent the species, which is likely the remains of Hansken, the famous performing elephant from the 1600s.

What's in a name?

Whenever a new species is discovered, under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, it is given a scientific name using binomial nomenclature and a "type" specimen is preserved, usually in a museum or research collection, so that other researchers can refer to it for physical details about the species.

"The type specimen is considered to be the representative for the entire species," said Alfred Roca, a professor of animal sciences and member of the Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois, who led Illinois's efforts in the study.

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Extinct elephant 'survived late' in North China

They had previously been identified as Elephas maximus, the Asian elephant that still inhabits southern China.

The findings suggest that Palaeoloxodon survived a further 7,000 years than was thought.

The team from China examined fossilised elephant teeth and ancient elephant-shaped bronzes for the study.

The research, published in Quaternary International was carried out by a group of scientists from Shaanxi Normal University and Northwest University in Xi'an and The Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Beijing.

No wild elephants live in North China today, but historical documents indicate that they roamed freely 3,000 years ago.

For decades experts believed that the ancient elephants were E. maximus - a species adapted to a tropical climate and that is still found in China's southerly Yunnan province.

"They thought North China was controlled by tropical climate at that time," explained Ji Li, from Shaanxi Normal University, who collaborated on the study with colleagues professor Yongjian Hou, professor Yongxiang Li and Jie Zhang.

Continued:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/20678793

Elephant mimics Korean with help of his trunk

An Asian elephant called Koshik has astounded scientists with his Korean language skills.

Researchers report that the mammal has learnt to imitate human speech and can say five words in Korean: hello, no, sit down, lie down and good.

The zoo animal places the tip of his trunk into his mouth to transform his natural low rumble into a convincing impression of a human voice.

The study is published in the journal Current Biology.

Koshik's vocal abilities mean that elephants now join a growing list of animals that are able to mimic man, from parrots and mynah birds to more unusual animals such as sea lions or the recently reported case of a human-sounding beluga whale.

Video and more at:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20142858