Human activities gave birth to an all-male Asian elephant herd

a new study released today shows that highly endangered young Asian elephants form all-male elephant groups in areas divided by human activity. The researchers speculate that this may be an adaptation behavior of male elephants, designed to improve their reproductive adaptability in areas where human exposure is high. The paper was published in Scientific Reports.
23 months, Nishant Srinivasaiah and colleagues at the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bangalore, India, collected and analysed 1,445 photographs of 248 male elephants in southern India. They found that when young male elephants live in non-forested or human-reformed areas, such as arable land, they form large-scale all-male elephant populations.
, young male elephants, which are usually not sexually mature, live mainly in mixed groups of males and females, while adult males who are sexually mature live mainly alone. The largest young Asian elephant herds were found to live in areas with high crop access, and individuals in the elephant population were more likely to have healthy physical conditions than adult elephants living alone. The findings suggest that the formation of young male Asian elephant groups may be an adaptation to improve reproductive adaptability in resource-rich areas at high risk of exposure to humans.
researchers point out that large all-male elephant groups that forage on farmland tend to live together for years, meaning that this behavior may be a risk management strategy in response to habitat threats. They argue that understanding the evolutionary behaviour of elephants living in areas with more human activity may help reduce human-like conflicts and prevent further decline of these endangered animals. (
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