Abstract
In antiquity, the Asian elephant,Elephas maximus, gradually spread southward and eastward to become a successfully surviving, ecologically dominant megaherbivore in the tropical environment of south-east Asia. The changing physical environment forced dynamic fluxes in its social structure and altered its metabolism. Such events shaped the production and ultimately the stability of certain chemicals released by body effluvia. Some of these chemicals took on significance as chemical signals and/or pheromones. This article demonstrates by experimental and observational evidence, and hypothesizes based on speculative reasoning, how and why specific chemical signals evolved in the modern Asian elephant. Evidence, including the functional criteria required by elephant social structure and ecology, is presented for the hypothesis that the recently identified female-emitted, male-received sex pheromone, (Z)-7-dodecenyl acetate evolved first as a chemical signal. Subsequently, the cohesiveness and harmony of small, matriarchally-led female groups were strengthened by a female-to-female chemical signal, recently defined behaviourally. The looser societal structure of freer, roaming males also became bounded by chemical signals; for the males, breath and temporal gland emissions, as well as urinary ones function in chemical signalling. Basic knowledge about elephant chemical signals is now linking chemical information to behaviour and beginning to demonstrate how these signals affect elephant social structure and enable the species to cope with environmental changes.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Bossert W H and Wilson E O 1963 The analysis of olfactory communication among mammals;J. Theor. Biol. 5 443–469
Brown R E and McDonald D W 1985Social odors in mammals (London: Oxford)
Duncan W R and Garton G A 1968 The fatty acid composition and intramolecular structure of triglycerides from adipose tissue of the hippopotamus and the African elephant;Comp. Biochem. Physiol. B25 319–325
Easa P S 1987 Chemical composition of the temporal gland secretion of an Asian elephant (Elephas maximus);Elephant 2 67–68
Edgerton F 1931The Elephant - Lore of the Hindus (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass)
Eisenberg J F 1981The Mammalian Radiations (Chicago: University of Chicago Press)
Eisenberg J F, McKay G M and Jainudeen M R 1971 Reproductive behavior of the Asiatic elephant (Elephas maximus maximus L);Behaviour 38 193–225
Garstang M, Larom D, Raspet R and Lindeque M 1995 Atmospheric controls of elephant communication;J. Exp. Biol. 198 939–951
Guthrie R D 1990Frozen Fauna of the Mammoth Steppe (Chicago: University of Chicago Press)
Haynes G 1991Mammoths, Mastodonts, and Elephants: Biology, Behavior and Fossil Record (New York: Cambridge University Press)
Hodges K 1998 Endocrinology of the ovarian cycle and pregnancy in the Asian (Elephas maximus) and African (Loxodonta africana) elephant;Anim. Reprod. Sci. 53 3–18
Jainudeen M R, McKay G M and Eisenberg J F 1972 Observations on musth in the domesticated Asiatic elephant (Elephas maximus);Mammalia 36 247–261
Krishnan M 1972 An ecological survey of the larger mammals of peninsular India. The Indian elephant;J. Bombay Nat. Hist.Soc. 69 297–315
Kurt F 1974 Remarks on the social structure and ecology of the Ceylon elephant in the Yala National Park; inThe Behavior of Ungulates and its Relation to Management (eds) V Geist and F Walther (Morges, Switzerland: International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) pp 618–634
Maglio V 1973 Origin and evolution of the Elephantidae;Trans. Am. Philos. Soc. 63 1–149
Mason J R and Morton T H 1984 Fast and loose covalent binding of ketones as a molecular mechanism in vertebrate olfactory receptors;Tetrahedron 40 483–492
McKay G M 1973 Behavior and ecology of the Asiatic elephant in southeastern Ceylon;Smithson. Contrib. Zool. 125 1–109
McCullagh K G 1973 Are African elephants deficient in essential amino acids?;Nature (London) 242 267–268
Perrin T E and Rasmussen L E L 1994 Chemosensory responses of female Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) to cyclohexanone;J. Chem. Ecol. 20 2577–2586
Perrin T E, Rasmussen L E L and Gunawardena R 1996 A method for collection, long-term storage, and bioassay of labile volatile chemosignals;J. Chem. Ecol. 21 207–221
Pocock R I 1916 Scent glands in mammals;Proc. Zool. Soc. London 742–755
Rasmussen L E, Schmidt M J and Daves G D 1986 Chemical communication among Asian elephants; inChemical Signals in Vertebrates: Evolutionary, Ecological, and Comparative Aspects (eds) D Duvall, M Silverstein and D Muller-Schwarze (New York: Plenum Press) pp 627–646
Rasmussen L E L 1988 Chemosensory responses in two species of elephants to constituents of temporal gland secretion and musth urine;J. Chem. Ecol. 14 1687–1711
Rasmussen L E L 1995 Evidence for long-term chemical memory in elephants;Chem. Senses 20 762
Rasmussen L E L 1998 Chemical communication: an integral part of functional Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) society;Ecoscience 5 411–429
Rasmussen L E L, Buss I O, Hess D L and Schmidt M J 1984 Testosterone and dihydrotestosterone concentrations in elephant serum and temporal gland secretions;Biol. Reprod. 30 352–362
Rasmussen L E L, Lee T D, Zhang A, Roelofs W L and Daves G D Jr 1997a Purification, identification, concentration and bioactivity of (Z)-7-dodecen-1-yl acetate: sex pheromone of the female Asian elephant,Elephas maximus;Chem. Senses 22 417–438
Rasmussen L E L, Gunawardena R A and Rasmussen R A 1997b Do Asian elephants, especially males in musth, chemically signal via volatiles in breath?;Chem. Senses 22 775
Rasmussen L E L, Hess D L and Haight J D 1990 Chemical analysis of temporal gland secretions collected from an Asian bull elephant during a four month musth episode;J. Chem. Ecol. 16 2167–2181
Rasmussen L E L, Hess D L and Hall-Martin A 1996a Chemical profiles of African bull elephants, (Loxodonta africana): physiological and ecological implications;J. Mammal. 77 422–39
Rasmussen L E L, Lee T D, Roelofs W L, Zhang A and Daves G D 1996b Insect pheromone in elephants;Nature (London) 379 684
Rasmussen L E L and Perrin T E 1999 Physiological correlates of musth: lipid metabolities and chemical composition of exudates;Physiol. Behav. 60 (in press)
Rasmussen L E L, Schmidt M J, Henneous R, Groves D and Daves G D 1982 Asian bull elephants: flehmen-like responses to extractable components in female elephant estrous urine;Science 217 159–162
Rasmussen L E L and Schulte B A 1998 Chemical signals in the reproduction of Asian and African elephants;Anim. Reprod. Sci. 53 411–429
Schulte B A and Rasmussen L E L 1999a Signal-receiver interplay in the communication of male condition by Asian elephants;Anim. Behav. (in press)
Schulte B A and Rasmussen L E L 1999b Musth, sexual selection, testosterone and metabolites; inAdvances in Chemical Communication Signals in Vertebrates (eds) R E Johnston, D Muller-Schwarze and P W Sorenson (New York: Plenum Press) vol. 8 (in press)
Schwarzenberger F, Strauss G, Hoppen H-O, Schaftenaar W, Dieleman S J, Zenker W and Pagan O 1997 Evaluation of progesterone and 20-oxo-progestagens in the plasma of Asian (Elephas maximus) and African (Loxodonta africana) elephants;Zoo Biol. 16 403–441
Scott N L, Schulte B A, Meilen J D and Rasmussen L E L 1997 Do male Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) advertise musth in their urine?in American Society of Mammalogists Meeting, Stillwater, OK, June 1997
Shoshani J and Tassy P 1996The Proboscidea: Evolution and Palaeoecology of Elephants and Their Relatives (Oxford: Oxford University Press)
Slade B 1999Chemical communication of estrous cycle status and changes in social behaviors with reproductive state in captive female Asian elephants, Elephas maximus; M.S. Thesis, Portland State University, Portland, OR, USA
Stanhope M J, Madsen O, Waddell V G, Cleven G C, deJong W W and Springer M S 1998 Highly congruent molecular support for a diverse superorder clade of endemic African mammals;Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 9 501–508
Sukumar R 1994Elephant Days and Nights: Ten Years with the Indian Elephant (New Delhi: Oxford University Press)
Sukumar R and Santiapillai C 1996Elephas maximus: status and distribution; inThe Proboscidea: Evolution and Palaeoecology of Elephants and Their Relatives (eds) J Shoshani and P Tassy (Oxford: Oxford University Press) pp 327–334
Whitehead H 1998 Cultural selection and genetic diversity in matrilineal whales;Science 282 1708–1711
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rasmussen, L.E.L. Evolution of chemical signals in the Asian elephant,Elephas maximus: behavioural and ecological influences. J. Biosci. 24, 241–251 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02941206
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02941206