Special Relationships between Female Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus) in Zoological Gardens
Abstract
Abstract Social relationships between female zoo elephants were analyzed on three different zoo groups. Interactions were defined as either affiliative or agonistic. The most frequent interactions were found to be touching of the partner's mouth, genital sinus, face and trunk. The calf was the individual involved in most social interactions. Placing the trunk tip into the partner's mouth is a well known behaviour, the correlation between this behaviour and aggression was analyzed and a further function is suggested. Aggressive behaviour was analyzed and the hypothesis derived that rank order has to be established and is flexible in a non‐kin group. The hypothesis that Asian elephant females may form special relationships was tested and confirmed. The following behaviour patterns were determined as indicators of a special relationship: Spatial proximity, partner‐specific reactions to arousal and to vocalizing, and omission of agonistic behaviour. An experiment confirmed the hypothesis that the removal of one member of a special relationship from the enclosure would elicit more arousal behaviour in the respective partner.
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Few studies have investigated the social relationships between female Asian elephants.
“However, few studies have investigated the social relationships between female Asian elephants (Garaï, 1992; Makecha et al., 2012).”
From Characteristics of social relationships in a group of captive Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in the elephant village in Thailand (2022) · cites this paper as Garaï, 1992
In zoos, a low frequency of aggressive behaviors has been observed compared to affiliative behaviors.
“In zoos, a low frequency of aggressive behaviors has been observed compared to affiliative behaviors (Garaï 1992; Harvey et al., 2018; Makecha et al., 2012), although our subjects showed fewer aggressive behaviors than those reported by Makecha et al. (2012).”
From Characteristics of social relationships in a group of captive Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in the elephant village in Thailand (2022) · cites this paper as Garaï 1992
Previous captive studies have shown little age variation in subject groups.
“The age composition of our subject group seemed to be more similar to that of wild elephant groups than that of captive zoo elephant groups; previous captive studies have shown little age variation in subject groups (Garaï, 1992; Makecha et al., 2012).”
From Characteristics of social relationships in a group of captive Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in the elephant village in Thailand (2022) · cites this paper as Garaï, 1992
Some studies on captive elephants have shown that subadults or juveniles interact in an affiliative manner more frequently than adults.
“Some studies on captive elephants have shown that subadults or juveniles interact in an affiliative manner more frequently than adults (Garaï, 1992; Harvey et al., 2018).”
From Characteristics of social relationships in a group of captive Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in the elephant village in Thailand (2022) · cites this paper as Garaï, 1992
In nature, female elephants remain with their natal herd, forming strong lifelong bonds with related females, although family fissions are also common.
“female elephants remain with their natal herd, forming strong lifelong bonds with related females, although family fissions are also common”
From Continuing challenges of elephant captivity: the captive environment, health issues, and welfare implications (2024) · cites this paper as Garai, 1992
Social behavior varies between individual elephants.
“These studies show that social behavior varies between individuals.”
From Characteristics of social relationships in a group of captive Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in the elephant village in Thailand (2022) · cites this paper as Garaï, 1992
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- Authors
- Garaï, M. E.
- Affiliations
- University of Zurich (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Garaï, Marion E.
- ORCID
- Garaï, Marion E.
- Venue
- Ethology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 1992-01-12
- Volume
- 90
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 187-205
- ISSN
- 0179-1613 (ISSN-L)
- 1439-0310
- OpenAlex
- W2008962855
- Cited by
- 33
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 2
- FWCI
- 1.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Ethology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Keywords
- Asian elephant, female elephants, interpersonal relationships, zoo animals, affiliative behavior, agonistic behavior, aggression, rank order, calf, vocalizations, spatial proximity, special relationship
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