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The influence of life history milestones and association networks on crop-raiding behavior in male African elephants.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Chiyo, PI; Moss, CJ; Alberts, SC
Published in: PloS one
January 2012

Factors that influence learning and the spread of behavior in wild animal populations are important for understanding species responses to changing environments and for species conservation. In populations of wildlife species that come into conflict with humans by raiding cultivated crops, simple models of exposure of individual animals to crops do not entirely explain the prevalence of crop raiding behavior. We investigated the influence of life history milestones using age and association patterns on the probability of being a crop raider among wild free ranging male African elephants; we focused on males because female elephants are not known to raid crops in our study population. We examined several features of an elephant association network; network density, community structure and association based on age similarity since they are known to influence the spread of behaviors in a population. We found that older males were more likely to be raiders than younger males, that males were more likely to be raiders when their closest associates were also raiders, and that males were more likely to be raiders when their second closest associates were raiders older than them. The male association network had sparse associations, a tendency for individuals similar in age and raiding status to associate, and a strong community structure. However, raiders were randomly distributed between communities. These features of the elephant association network may limit the spread of raiding behavior and likely determine the prevalence of raiding behavior in elephant populations. Our results suggest that social learning has a major influence on the acquisition of raiding behavior in younger males whereas life history factors are important drivers of raiding behavior in older males. Further, both life-history and network patterns may influence the acquisition and spread of complex behaviors in animal populations and provide insight on managing human-wildlife conflict.

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Published In

PloS one

DOI

EISSN

1932-6203

ISSN

1932-6203

Publication Date

January 2012

Volume

7

Issue

2

Start / End Page

e31382

Related Subject Headings

  • Social Support
  • Male
  • General Science & Technology
  • Feeding Behavior
  • Elephants
  • Crops, Agricultural
  • Behavior, Animal
  • Animals
  • Age Factors
 

Citation

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Chiyo, P. I., Moss, C. J., & Alberts, S. C. (2012). The influence of life history milestones and association networks on crop-raiding behavior in male African elephants. PloS One, 7(2), e31382. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0031382
Chiyo, Patrick I., Cynthia J. Moss, and Susan C. Alberts. “The influence of life history milestones and association networks on crop-raiding behavior in male African elephants.PloS One 7, no. 2 (January 2012): e31382. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0031382.
Chiyo, Patrick I., et al. “The influence of life history milestones and association networks on crop-raiding behavior in male African elephants.PloS One, vol. 7, no. 2, Jan. 2012, p. e31382. Epmc, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0031382.

Published In

PloS one

DOI

EISSN

1932-6203

ISSN

1932-6203

Publication Date

January 2012

Volume

7

Issue

2

Start / End Page

e31382

Related Subject Headings

  • Social Support
  • Male
  • General Science & Technology
  • Feeding Behavior
  • Elephants
  • Crops, Agricultural
  • Behavior, Animal
  • Animals
  • Age Factors