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Tanzania’s reputation is already on thin ice. The forceful eviction of the Maasai from their ancestral lands in Loliondo has drawn international scrutiny. According to @amnesty security forces employed brutal tactics to make way for a private company’s “tourism ventures” (read: trophy hunting). The @guardian reports that the @worldbank suspended financing aimed at developing tourism in southern Tanzania, due to government abuses of human rights. The trophy hunting in Tanzania of elephants from the cross border Amboseli population has exacerbated the fragile situation, prompting a growing number of calls for a tourism boycott of Tanzania.

Well, well, well…someone has clearly been tusking the ground. Tusk-Ground: Bending or kneeling down and tusking the ground and, often, uplifting clods of soil and vegetation. When elephants engage in Mud-Wallowing they often Tusk-Ground. This is particularly true of Mud-Wallowing musth males who will engage in an exaggerated form of Tusk-Ground along with other components of a musth male display. In an Aggressive context Tusk-Ground is seen in the manoeuvring between two males during an Escalated-Contest, apparently as a demonstration of ‘look what I will do with you’. You can learn more about this behavior on The Elephant Ethogram via the link in our bio. #theelephantethogram #elephantvoices #conservation #elephants

Today is 'Save the Elephant Day', a global initiative dedicated to raising awareness about elephants and advocating for their protection and conservation. We can't think of a better way to celebrate elephants than to learn more about their behaviour and communication. In 2021, ElephantVoices launched The Elephant Ethogram: a uniquely detailed catalogue, or library, of the behavior and communication of African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana). It is based on decades of ElephantVoices behavioral studies, photographs, and audio and video recordings, the referenced research of other elephant biologists, as well as professional and amateur footage made available to ElephantVoices. It consists of written and referenced descriptions, video examples, photographic illustrations and, where relevant, audio recordings, of 322 Behaviors, 103 Behavioral Constellations and 23 Behavioral Contexts. There are close to 3,000 media files in the fully searchable Elephant Ethogram including 2,408 video clips. We will continue to focus on the Amboseli males, so here is a video from The Elephant Ethogram of Tim (and Craig) taken in 2019. Tim was grazing with male companions on the edge of Amboseli National Park. He was not in musth but he Ear-Waved at us a few times and these were associated with half-hearted Musth-Rumbles. In this clip he Ear-Waves and gives a short Musth-Rumble as he approaches our car. A few days later he was in full musth and had left his companions in favor of family groups. The behavior illustrated in this video is Ear-Wave: A musth male swings the upper portion of the ear stiffly and vigorously forward and backward. The speed and forcefulness of the swinging causes the lower, unsupported portion of the pinnae to flap even further forward and backward and upward. The motion creates a wave appearance across the ear. Ear-Waving is typically associated with Musth-Rumbling and may serve to waft scent of Musth-Temporal-Gland-Secretion toward other elephants. To learn more about elephant behavior visit The Elephant Ethogram via the link in out bio. #theelephantethogram #elephantvoices #conservation #elephants #savetheelephantday

In light of the ongoing trophy hunting of the Amboseli elephants in Tanzania, we want to highlight the behavior of males, their importance in elephant society and the unique challenges they face. (Post 5/6). Rank among non-musth males is determined by size and strength, with larger, older males generally dominant to younger males. Musth, however, is an elephant’s wild card because, typically, males in musth out-rank all non-musth males. Since the musth periods of males are asynchronous - each male being on his own particular sexual cycle - musth inserts an element of uncertainty and surprise into male-male relationships. Young males in musth sometimes go out of their way to threaten older and larger non-musth males who are normally their senior. Another factor that comes into play is body condition. Musth drains energy and reduces weight. Fights between males occur when males are unsure of their rank relative to one another. Serious fights can be life threatening and males do not enter them without assessing their odds very carefully. Males, therefore, put significant energy into both signalling their elevated musth status and body condition to other males and likewise monitoring the shifting status of others. They advertise their state by leaving a trail of urine, secreting from their temporal glands and vocalizing with musth-rumbles. They monitor other males by testing and tracking their urine trails and listening for their rumbles. Using these signals males can either avoid or seek out their rivals. Musth males have higher status and mating success, prompting the question why younger males don't enter musth. Musth serves as honest advertising; musth males are more aggressive towards each other, and being in musth requires readiness for challenges. Younger males prioritize putting energy into growth rather than into musth, while older males, no longer growing rapidly, can allocate more energy to sustained musth periods. 📷: @selengei #notyourtrophy #handsoffourelephants #killingisnotconservation #endtrophyhunting

In light of recent events, we are highlighting the behavior of males, their importance in elephant society and the unique challenges they face. (Post 4/6) Successful mating in male elephants requires a combination of size, strength, and experience. Male elephants are at their reproductive prime between the ages of 40 and 50 years old, but even in their sixties males remain reproductively active. Indeed a male’s longevity determines how many calves he will father in his lifetime - the longer a male lives, the more reproductively successful he is likely to be. The physical act of copulation requires skill and experience. A male must first be proficient at mounting, a behavior that males begin practicing from infancy. For a male elephant to stand on his hind legs takes both strength and balance, particularly when the mounted individual tries to dislodge him by stepping forward or kicking backward. Young males often practice on one another, which helps develops proficiency. Once a male has mounted a receptive female he must then control his highly mobile penis in order to achieve intromission. As if this weren’t challenge enough, a female’s reproductive tract is also long and curved and a membrane, which covers the cervix, must be moved aside. The larger the male, the larger his penis, offering an advantage in this respect. Once in the correct position, standing on his hind legs and holding his mate still with his trunk, experienced older males do a squat and push up from that position, presumably offering their full liter of semen the best possible opportunity. Females typically prefer to mate with these older, experienced males and may refuse to hold still for younger individuals. Image 1: Clearly illustrates an unsuccessful mating by a younger male. Image 2: An illustration of Elephant Copulation that Joyce drew for her 1982 PhD on Musth and male male competition. Image 3: A successful mating by Amboseli bull, Pascal in musth. Image 4: Erin in estrus showing her preference for large musth male, Ed. Elephant ID: @amboseli_trust Help us get to 20,000 signatures! (link in bio) #notyourtrophy #handsoffourelephants #killingisnotconservation

In light of recent tragic events, we want to highlight the behavior of males, their importance in elephant society and the unique challenges they face. This is post 3/5. The long term records of the @amboseli_trust (to which we contributed) show that males experience their first musth period at an average 29 years of age. We have, however, seen males in their late teens in musth. Considering that first musth only lasts a day or so it is likely that we don’t often detect the first musth period experienced by males, which is likely in a male’s early to mid twenties. Musth is characterized by heightened sexual activity and aggression, swollen and secreting temporal glands, dribbling of strong-smelling urine and is accompanied by distinct behavioral displays, including a low-frequency vocalization known as the musth rumble (to learn more visit The Elephant Ethogram and search on musth). This period also coincides with increased levels of circulating testosterone. Young males enter musth around the time when their growth in height begins to slow, allowing them to allocate more energy towards gaining the weight necessary to sustain energetically demanding musth periods. Additionally, at this stage, males have typically surpassed adult females in size and their relationship with females and family groups changes. There is a direct correlation between a male's age and the duration of his musth period. Young males in their twenties may experience musth for only a few days at a time. Males aged between 30 and 35 years typically undergo slightly longer musth periods, lasting a couple of weeks, and may enter and exit musth multiple times within a longer sexually active period. By the time males are in their mid thirties, musth lasts longer and sexual cycles are more distinct, and by 40 years of age, they exhibit a well-defined musth period lasting two to four months, occurring predictably on a yearly cycle. The duration of a male's musth period increases with age until around 50 years old, after which it begins to decrease. #notyourtrophy #handsoffourelephants #killingisnotconservation #endtrophyhunting

“The least I can do is speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves.” - Dr. Jane Goodall Today we wish the remarkable Dr. Jane Goodall a very Happy 90th Birthday. Dr. Jane Goodall stands as an inspiration for countless individuals, including our Scientific Director. At just 11 years old, @elephantvoices’ Joyce Poole attended a talk by Dr. Goodall at the National Museums of Kenya - it was during this talk that she decided that she wanted to study animals, too. Throughout Joyce’s lifelong dedication to the study of elephants and their conservation, Dr. Jane has remained a source of inspiration. Jane, we want to thank you for standing up for elephants and for speaking out against the trophy hunting of the Amboseli elephants. We remain in awe of your unwavering dedication and boundless passion for all creatures. Your commitment to the welfare and conservation of animals, both great and small, is truly heroic. During the weekend, Joyce engaged in discussions with the head of the Tanzania Professional Hunters Association to argue against the trophy hunting of Amboseli’s elephants. After a series of exchanges, he exclaimed, “You are just like Jane Goodall!” to which Joyce responded simply, “Good.” You have left and continue to leave an indelible mark on the world. Thank you! ❤️ *The second photograph, taken in Kenya in 1996, features Dr. Jane Goodall (@janegoodallinst), Dame Daphne Sheldrick (@sheldricktrust), Dr. Joyce Poole (@elephantvoices), Dr. Mary Leakey (@turkanabasin), @franslanting, and our three-year-old daughter @selengei, who as an adult worked for The Jane Goodall Institute. #JaneAt90 #GoodAllDay #JaneGoodall

In light of recent tragic events, we want to highlight the behavior of males, their importance in elephant society and the unique challenges they face. (Post 2/6) One evolutionary rationale for male elephants' departure from their natal family units has been to avoid inbreeding. Yet, the paths of independent sexually active males often cross through their family’s home range. Furthermore, genetic studies have shown that males actively avoid breeding with both their close maternal relatives, whom they would know, and their paternal relatives, whom they can have no way of knowing other than, perhaps, by smell. In other words, avoiding inbreeding is unlikely the reason that males leave their families. It is more likely that young males are drawn away by the urge to explore new places and to meet new social partners. We have found that once independent, teenage males spend much of their time associating with families groups with associating males (mixed groups) where they can socialize with male age-mates. While spermatogenesis begins around the age of 10, males do not typically produce sufficient quantities of sperm to inseminate a female until they are around 17 years old. Despite their interest in estrous females at this young age, they are only half the weight of a full adult male and their ability to compete successfully for mating opportunities is severely limited. They must undergo an extended period of growth and social development over another 15-20 years before reaching social maturity when they are attractive to females and can compete with other males for mates. Unlike most other mammals, male elephants continue to grow through most of their adult lives, their growth in height only stopping at around 45 years of age. Consequently, older males tend to be larger and dominant to younger, less experienced males. Throughout their lives males suffer higher mortality than females and only ¼ of males ever reach the age when they are regularly able to complete for females and breed successfully. #notyourtrophy #handsoffourelephants #killingisnotconservation #endtrophyhunting

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tusklessness

Gorongosa Elephant Project

In 2011 the Gorongosa Restoration Project (GRP) invited ElephantVoices to assess the Gorongosa elephant population, and to initiate a long-term elephant monitoring and conservation project. In October 2012 we began studying the Gorongosa elephants in earnest, and we continue to travel to Mozambique for a month or two each year. (Want to find Gorongosa on the map?)

Back in 1969 Gorongosa National Park was home to over 2200 elephants. Between 1977 and 1992 civil conflict in the country took the lives of most of these individuals. Elephant meat was used to feed soldiers and ivory was sold for the purchase of arms and ammunition. By the time peace was restored it was estimated that less than 200 individuals remained alive.

Thanks to intervention by the Mozambican Government and the GRP, today (end 2017) we estimate there to be over 800 elephants in Gorongosa, and their numbers are gradually increasing. Yet, the survivors haven't forgotten their gruesome experiences. They are still wary of people and they continue to avoid large areas of the national park. Read more about the Gorongosa elephants here.

Our objectives

Our work aims to document the status of the Gorongosa elephants, to better understand the long-lasting physical and behavioral scars