DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Behavioral Responses of Male African Elephants (Loxodonta Africana) to Musth Urine

论文研究：雄性非洲象 (Loxodonta africana) 对霉尿的行为反应

• 批准号: 0407858
• 负责人: Susan Alberts
• 金额: $ 1万
• 依托单位: Duke University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-05-01 至 2005-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0407858&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Behavioral; Responses; Male

Behavioral responses of male African elephants (Loxodonta africana) to musth urine.PI: Susan C. Alberts and Julie Hollister-Smith Male elephants generally exhibit the dominance relationships seen in males of most mammalian societies; a larger individual is dominant to a smaller individual. However, musth episodes (periods of elevated testosterone and high aggression) temporarily raise a male's dominance position above any non-musth male regardless of size or age. Typified by increased association with females, increased sexual activity, temporal gland secretions and nearly continual urine dribbling, musth has been described as similar to rut in ungulates. Unlike rut, however, musth occurs throughout the year and is asynchronous in a population, so that only a few bulls are in musth concurrently. The mechanisms underlying its onset and duration are not well understood, but age, size and physical condition all affect the likelihood that an individual will experience musth. A single musth period may last from just a few days to over five months, generally increasing as a male ages. Maintaining the condition is energetically costly, thus a male physically declines as it continues.This study explores the potential for chemical signaling between male African elephants via urine dribbling during musth. By examining the temporal patterns of signaling during musth, this study investigates how population level asynchrony of musth may in part be explained by individual economics of maintaining this physiologically expensive condition and of avoiding direct competition with other males in musth. As such, these results may shed additional light on current theories of sexual selection, signaling theory, and male competition strategies. This study also lays the groundwork for future exploration of possible suppression or stimulation of musth in males via urinary signals of musth.

非洲象（Loxodonta Africana）对尿液的行为反应。较大的个体主要是一个较小的个体。 但是，无论大小或年龄如何，肌肉发作（睾丸激素升高和高侵略性时期）暂时提高了男性的优势位置。 穆斯特（Musth）以与女性相关性增加，性活动增加，性活动增加，颞腺分泌物和几乎连续的尿液滴头为代表，被描述为与不凝结的RUT相似。 但是，与RUT不同，全年都会发生肌肉，并且在人群中是异步的，因此同时只有几头公牛。 其发作和持续时间的基础机制尚不清楚，但是年龄，大小和身体状况都影响了个人经历肌肉的可能性。 单个肌肉时间可能持续几天到五个月以上，通常随着男性年龄的增长。 保持这种状况的能量成本高昂，因此，男性在继续下降时会在身体上下降。这项研究探讨了通过肌肉中尿液滴注的男性非洲大象之间的化学信号传导的潜力。 通过检查肌肉期间信号传导的时间模式，这项研究调查了种群水平水平的肌肉异步性，部分可以通过个人经济学来维持这种生理上昂贵的状况以及避免与其他男性直接竞争肌肉的竞争来解释。 因此，这些结果可能会给当前的性选择，信号理论和男性竞争策略提供更多启示。 这项研究还为未来通过肌电尿信号探索抑制或刺激肌肉的抑制作用奠定了基础。