Testosterone secretion, musth behaviour and social dominance in captive male Asian elephants living near the equator
Open accessAbstract
Testosterone concentrations were measured in blood samples collected weekly over a 5 year period from six adult (19-40 year old) male Asian elephants (Elephas maximus maximus) living in captivity in Sri Lanka (7 degrees N), to investigate the relationship between androgen secretion and the occurrence of musth (temporal gland secretion, drip urination and aggressive behaviour). The testosterone profiles were very variable both within and between animals. Long-term phasic changes in blood concentrations of testosterone, associated with periods of musth, occurred in three of the six elephants, with the most pronounced cyclicity in the oldest animal. Musth occurred annually after periods of high androgen secretion and there was a positive correlation between the duration of musth and mean concentrations of testosterone during the previous 2 months. The time of musth, while consistent for an individual, was variable between animals. In four bulls living within one social group, there was a positive correlation between social rank and mean concentrations of testosterone over the 5 year study, and only the dominant animal showed periodic musth. Short-term changes in testosterone concentrations occurred in blood samples collected every 15 min for 7 h, and following the injection of 20 micrograms GnRH, consistent with regulation through the pulsatile secretion of LH. Overall, the results support the view that fully mature male Asian elephants living near the equator express an asynchronous, cyclical, circannual pattern of gonadal activity, with the cyclical pattern developing progressively from 20 to 40 years of age. The periodic increase in testosterone secretion during the gonadal cycle induces the development of musth; however, androgen withdrawal following a period of hypersecretion may be the cause of some aspects of musth behaviour (aggression, unpredictability, disobedience) which make bull elephants very difficult to manage in captivity.
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Musth is typically observed in sexually mature males in good physical condition.
“Musth, a phenomenon unique to African and Asian elephants, is typically observed in sexually mature males in good physical condition [22,59]”
From Socializing a group of male Asian elephants in a semi-captive facility in Lao PDR (2025) · cites this paper as [59]
The Abstract (page not provided) links musth to fully mature male Asian elephants, and the Introduction says older bulls usually enter musth annually. Neither passage says that males in musth are typically in good physical condition; the paper's discussion of food restriction does not establish that condition as typical. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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- Authors
- Lincoln, G. A., & Ratnasooriya, W. D.
- Affiliations
- MRC Centre for Reproductive Health (GB)
- University of Colombo (LK)
- ORCID
- Lincoln, G A
- Venue
- Reproduction
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 1996-09-01
- Volume
- 108
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 107-113
- ISSN
- 1470-1626 (ISSN-L)
- 1741-7899
- OpenAlex
- W2147919077
- Cited by
- 61
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 3 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 3.09
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Reproduction (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Universities Federation for Animal Welfare
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Hypothalamic control of reproductive hormones
- Keywords
- Asian elephant, musth, testosterone secretion, androgens, social dominance, social rank, captive elephants, GnRH challenge, luteinizing hormone pulsatility, androgen withdrawal, aggression
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Asia, Elephants, Male, Sexual Behavior, Animal, Social Dominance, Testosterone, Tropical Climate
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