The impact of competition on elephant musth strategies: a game–theoretic model

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Wyse, John Max, Hardy, Ian C.W., Yon, Lisa and Mesterton-Gibbons, Mike (2017) The impact of competition on elephant musth strategies: a game–theoretic model. Journal of Theoretical Biology . ISSN 1095-8541

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Abstract

Mature male African Savannah elephants are known to periodically enter a temporary state of heightened aggression called “musth,” often linked with increased androgens, particularly testosterone. Sexually mature males are capable of entering musth at any time of year, and will often travel long distances to find estrous females. When two musth bulls or two non-musth bulls encounter one another, the agonistic interaction is usually won by the larger male. However, When a smaller musth bull encounters a larger non-musth bull, the smaller musth male can win. The relative mating success of musth males is due partly to this fighting advantage, and partly to estrous females’ general preference for musth males.

Though musth behavior has long been observed and documented, the evolutionary advantages of musth remain poorly understood. Here we develop a game–theoretic model of male musth behavior which assumes musth duration as a parameter, and distributions of small, medium and large musth males are predicted in both time and space. The predicted results are similar to the musth timing behavior observed in the Amboseli National Park elephant population, and further results are generated with relevance to Samburu National Park. We discuss small male musth behavior, the effects of estrous female spatial heterogeneity on musth timing, conservation applications, and the assumptions underpinning the model.

Item Type: Article
RIS ID: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/839729
Schools/Departments: University of Nottingham, UK > Faculty of Science > School of Biosciences
University of Nottingham, UK > Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > School of Veterinary Medicine and Science
Identification Number: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2017.01.025
Depositing User: Eprints, Support
Date Deposited: 24 Jan 2017 11:34
Last Modified: 04 May 2020 18:30
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/40027

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