No rest for new elephant mothers

New study reveals elephant babies are able to keep up with the herd straight after birth

Wednesday April 20, 2022. Elephant herds do not slow down for mothers who’ve just given birth, according to new research from an international team led by researchers from the University of Oxford, in collaboration with Save the Elephants.

Elephants need to keep moving in order to find the amount of food and water they need to survive, but how do families manage with new babies? The secret lies with the 22-month gestation period, that sees mature baby elephants emerge from the womb able to keep up with the family from the day they’re born.

The findings, published today in Animal Behaviour, show the average daily speed of the mother did not significantly change during pregnancy, birth and when moving with a newborn calf, except for a small dip in daily speed on the day of birth itself. In fact, the speed on the day before the elephant gave birth and the day after (i.e. the first complete day of the calf’s life) were not different from the yearly average speed.

Elephants live in strongly bonded, female-led (matriarchal) herds. Alongside the mother, other elephants (usually aunts) help to rear and protect calves. However, different elephants in a herd can be pregnant and give birth at different times. This asynchrony means elephants have to balance different needs and pressures between members of the herd.

To find out how these factors affect a herd’s movements, Save the Elephants fitted GPS tracking collars to pregnant elephants. The tracking technology, pioneered by Save the Elephants, is an important tool for monitoring elephant movement and behaviour, and works in a similar way to a smartwatch tracking a walk or a run. The age of baby elephants was estimated by size and appearance.

The scientists then brought all this data together to calculate whether the speed of the mother changed before, during, and after birth.

“We speculate that this ability ‘to keep up’ may underpin why elephants have the longest gestation period [pregnancy] of any mammal in order to facilitate an advanced state of foetal physical development, and may have evolved to help elephant herds stay together,” says the lead author, Dr Lucy Taylor from the University of Oxford.

“I find it remarkable that female elephants are pregnant for 22 months, give birth and then are capable of carrying on almost straight away. Even the oldest female in a family herd, the matriarch, can still give birth and lead the group, which I consider to be another demonstration of the strength and resilience of female elephants,” says Dr Taylor.

To read more about the research published in Animal Behaviour, please visit: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.03.002

Key findings from the study include:

• Elephant herds do not slow down for new mothers and make very little changes to their movements
• The speed on the day before the elephant gave birth and the first complete day of the calf’s life were not different from the yearly average speed
• Newborn elephants are able to keep up with the herd from the moment they are born
• The ability of mothers and newborns ‘to keep up’ may underpin why elephants have the longest gestation period [pregnancy] of any mammal.

The study is published online in Animal Behaviour

For more information and interviews, please contact:

Save the Elephants
Jane Wynyard
[email protected]
+254 708 669 635

University of Oxford press office
[email protected]?
+44 (0)1865 280528

University of Oxford (Dept. of Biology)
Dr Jack Common
Communications & Engagement Officer
[email protected]
+44 (0) 1865 2 71296

Top image: Storms © Photo by Robbie Labanowski/Save the Elephants, 2019

About Save the Elephants (www.savetheelephants.org)

Based in Kenya, Save the Elephants works to secure a future for elephants. Specialising in elephant research, they provide scientific insights into elephant behaviour, intelligence, and long-distance movements and apply them to the challenges of elephant survival. Education and outreach programs share these insights with local communities as the true custodians of this rich heritage. The team works towards a future of harmonious coexistence between humans and elephants. High-tech tracking helps plan landscapes while low-tech beehive fences, among other tools, provide farmers with protection as well as income. To battle ivory poaching, Save the Elephants teamed up with the Wildlife Conservation Network created the Elephant Crisis Fund to identify and support the most effective partners in Africa and in nations with ivory markets to stop poaching, thwart traffickers and end demand for ivory.

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