Elephants are gigantic specie of the wild. They are known to be protectors of the jungle.

1. Behavior of Elephants
Presented by Asma
Chaudhry

2. Classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Proboscidea
Family: Elephantidae
Subfamily: Elephantinae

3. Anatomy of Elephants

4. Terminologies
• Male elephant: Bull
• Female elephant: Cow
• Baby elephant: Calf

5. Male elephants
• Adult male elephants are solitary in
nature but may associate with other
bulls in small groups.
• Males will leave the family unit (natal
unit) between 12 and 15 years of age.
• Bulls that associate in small groupings
have a hierarchal-ranking social
structure.
• Leaders, determined by age and
strength, protect the front and rear of
the herd.

6. Continued…
• Hierarchical roles are re-
established and re-adjusted
whenever a male leaves or enters
the group.
• More docile (quiet-natured) bulls
do not seek leadership roles, but
serve as stabilizing members
within the group.
• The bulls' nomadic (wandering)
social system allows them to
maximize reproductive potential.
• A single bull can potentially find
up to 30 mates in a year.

7. Female elephants
• Female social structure is similar to
concentric rings.
• The innermost circle comprises a
family unit of related adult cows
(females).
• Family units range in size from three
to 25 individuals.
• It includes the eldest, most dominant
female called the matriarch, her adult
daughters, and their calves, and a
number of juveniles.
• From this stable core, the groupings
widen to include less familiar
individuals.

8. Social behavior
Dominance: the level of dominance is
closely related to a bull's size, power, and
weight. Bulls that are in musth are
particularly dominant.
Mourning: when elephants come across
deceased remains of other elephants, a
silent pause is taken, as the remains are
touched with their trunks.
Home range: Elephants are not
territorial. The home range is between 10
and 70 km2 (four to 27 mi.2) and
possibly larger, depending on herd size
and seasonality.

9. Individual behavior
Musth: Elephants have a musth gland
located just beneath the skin's surface,
halfway between the eye and ear, on each
side of their head.
Annually, musth glands secrete a dark, oily,
musky substance and become inflamed.
The musth period lasts between several
days to several months.
Male elephants first experience musth
about three years after sexual maturity is
reached.
The musth secretion increases gradually
until the bulls reach their 40's.

10. Continued…
Female African elephants experience a
much less intense form of musth.
Musth has not been documented in
Asian female elephants.
Bulls in musth display a significant
change in behavior and deep
vocabulary of sounds, which signals
strength and virility.
Musth males may rub secretions onto
trees to scent-mark their areas of
dominance.
Males in musth show extremely
aggressive behavior.

11. Continued…
Bathing/ Dusting: The trunks are
used like a hose to spray water across
the body. To help protect the skin
from parasites and biting insects,
elephants wallow in mud or spray
dust on their wet skin.
Sleeping: Elephants sleep about
approximately four hours a night.
About two hours of that are spent
standing. During deep sleep,
individuals lie on their sides,
breathing noisily, and sometimes
snoring.

12. Continued…
Trials of strength: Young,
strong bulls test strength by
pushing over trees.
Activity: Elephants are
crepuscular in nature, primarily
active at dawn and dusk (twilight
hours) when the environment is
cooler.

13. Reproduction
Mating Season: Mostly during
the rainy season.
Gestation: 22 months.
Litter size: 1 calf (twins rare).
• After copulation the male
African elephant stays near the
female, guarding her, while she
emits deep, low-frequency,
rumbling noises that can be
heard five miles away.

14. Continued…
• Calves: Calves weigh
between 200-250 lbs at birth.
At birth, a calf's trunk has no
muscle tone, therefore it will
suckle through its mouth. It
takes several months for a
calf to gain full control of its
trunk.

15. Encounter in wild
• If you are inside a vehicle, and elephant
is in front of you, then slowly move the
vehicle in reverse direction. Do not blow
horn. Try to be as calm as possible.
• If you are on foot and you encounter an
elephant , usually they don't bother if
there is no baby in the herd. But if u have
reached close to some baby then mother
elephant will definitely chase you. Never
try to climb on trees or running upwards
on hill. Always run down on slope.
Elephants , due to their huge weight have
difficulty in running down slope.

16. Thankyou