1. Quantifying Agonistic and Affiliative Behavioral Interactions Between Female African Elephants (Loxodonta Africana) in Captivity
Conner Bradley, Yoonkeong Chi, Annie Giarla, Maraia Tremarelli, Rhodes College
Introduction
Methods
Results
Fig. 1 Frequency of agonistic behaviors in a pair (the first individual in the pair is the initiator)
is higher between Gina-Ty, Gina-Asali; and lower between Asali-Ty, Asali-Gina
Fig. 3 Quantified total number of agonistic and affiliative behaviors exhibited by each
elephants. Asali exhibited 0 agonistic and 12 affiliative behaviors. Gina exhibited 52 agonistic
behaviors and 12 affiliative. Tyranza exhibited 3 agonistic and 17 affiliative.
Discussion
● There was no significant difference in the frequency of agonistic behavior involving the
matriarch (U = 3.00, N1= 4, N2 = 2, p = .639; Figure 1)
● There was no significant difference in the frequency of affiliative behavior involving
the matriarch (U = .500, N1= 4, N2 = 2, p = .095; Figure 2)
● The overall difference among the three elephants in the displayed agonistic behavior (x²
= 82.07, p = 0.01) was significant.
● The overall difference among the three elephants in the displayed affiliative behaviors
(x² = .53, p = 0.77) was not significant
Acknowledgements
Works Cited
• Female african elephants (Loxodonta africana) live in large social groups, where age, size and
kinship contribute to social rank². While captive herds are smaller and often comprised of
unrelated females, hierarchies (i.e. matriarch system) are common in both captive and wild-
life².
• At the Memphis Zoo, Tyranza is the matriarch. The loss of a matriarch may result in a shift in
the social dynamic within the group based on how much interaction the matriarch has with each
non-matriarch elephant.
• Our study quantified the social interactions, primarily the affiliative and agonistic interactions
between the matriarch vs. non-matriarchs, and the non-matriarch vs. non-matriarchs.
• Research Question: How does social hierarchy within the matriarch group affect the
frequency of behavior exhibited between the elephant individuals?
H1: Ha - Social rank within matriarch group has an effect on the frequency of exhibited agonistic
behavior between the individuals.
Prediction 1: The matriarch will exhibit less agonistic behavior toward the non-matriarch
individuals
Prediction 2: The non-matriarch individuals will exhibit less agonistic behavior towards the
matriarch
H2: Ha - Social rank within matriarch group has an effect on the frequency of exhibited affiliative
behavior between the individuals
Prediction 1: The matriarch will exhibit more affiliative behavior toward the non-matriarch
individuals
Prediction 2: Non-matriarch individual will exhibit more affiliative behavior toward the matriarch,
than the other non-matriarch
• Our study is important to the Memphis Zoo because it reinforces knowledge about the social
hierarchy within the herd. With a deeper understanding of the herd behavioral dynamics, the
Memphis Zoo can make better management decisions in the future.
• Our study can be used as a reference when deciding whether or not it is appropriate to add new
elephants in the future.
Setting
● Three female African elephants reside in the Memphis Zoo: Tyranza, Gina, and Asali. The
elephants vary in age and size. Tyranza, the largest, is 50 years old, Gina is 32, Asali is 29.
Behavioral Observations
● Data was collected by five research students from September 2014 to March 2015. Individuals
collected three hours of data on average per week, between 10:00 and 4:00.
● Behavior and location were recorded using scan-sampling methods.
● Scan-sampling was carried out by recording behaviors from an ethogram in two minute
intervals, lasting an hour¹
● Three specific behaviors were quantified: TTI (touching other individuals), TTT (touching
another trunk), and AG (agonistic behavior)
● TTI and TTT were categorized into the affiliative group and AG was categorized into the
agonistic group
● Affiliative and agonistic behavior were categorized between Matriarch/Non-Matriarch
interactions (M-NM) and Non-Matriarch/Non-Matriarch interactions (NM-NM).
Statistical Analysis:
● A Chi-Square test was performed to test the overall differences among the elephants.
● A non-parametric Mann-Whitney-U test was performed to address the presence of the
matriarch during the exhibition of the affiliative/agonistic behavior
Behavior Definition
Agonistic Social behaviors involve tusking, pushing, aggression, and stealing
food. Agonistic behavior also includes a behavior of backing away
from an approaching individual.
Affiliative Social behaviors (exhibited when individual wants to reduce the
aggression of another individual) are exhibited through [TTT] trunk
touching (the other individual), and [TTI] trunk touching another
individual (any part of the body).
Table 1. African Elephant ethogram of categorized behaviors ● Both of our hypotheses were not supported because there was no significant
difference in the frequency of both affiliative and agonistic behaviors involving
the matriarch
● We believe there was no significance in the statistical analysis due to the very
large number of total scan sampling size
● The result is still very interesting because while Gina exhibited the most agonistic
behavior, she did not display a higher amount of behavior towards one individual
over the other.
● It is important to note that the majority of Gina’s agonistic behavior was her
stealing their food during feeding time.
● So even though most of Gina’s aggressive behavior was directed towards
Tyranza (Fig. 1), it was primarily her stealing Tyranza’s food.
● There was no significance in the the overall affiliative behavior that was
exhibited by the elephants, which indicates that all elephants displayed equal
amount of affiliative behavior towards each other.
● Future study: it should be noted at all the times when the gates are opened and
closed; indicate which individual initiated the behavior (affiliative or agnostic),
and quantify how long (according to the 2-minute scan sampling) the behavior
was exhibited
● Limitations in research and data include:
○ Not indicating in all our data whether the gates were opened or closed
○ Not indicating all the time who initiated the behavior (affiliative or agonistic
○ Due to time limit, we could not utilize GIS to quantify spatial distance
between the individuals while the agonistic behavior was exhibited, and we
could not quantify time spent on the exhibition of the behaviors
We would like to thank Dr. Sarah Boyle for her support and helping us with the
statistical analysis, the Memphis Zoo for allowing us to collect data on the elephants,
and the animal keepers of African Veldt for information about the elephants. We
would also like to thank Claire Carr, Maddie Carwile, Ethan Jones and Brooke Rose
for giving us access to their data.
Asali
©
Gina
¹ Martin, P. & Bateson, P. 2007. Measuring Behavior: An Introductory Guide. 3rd
edn. Cambridge: University Press.
² Freeman et al. 2010. Using Behavioral Observations and Keeper Questionnaires to
Assess Social Relationships Among Captive Female African Elephants. Zoo Biology
29: 140-153.
Tyranza
Conclusion
● Even though the statistical analysis did not show significance in the frequency of
behaviors exhibited by each individual, the project is still important to the
Memphis Zoo because it shows the quantified exhibited behavior (affiliative and
agonistic) between the non-matriarchs and matriarch; as well as non-matriarch
and non-matriarch
● All three elephants had around the same number of affiliative actions.This being
said the number of affiliative behavior between matriarch and non-matriarchs
was greater than the number of affiliative behavior exhibited between non-
matriarch and non matriarch.
● Gina displayed the most agonistic behavior, but distributed those behaviors
evenly towards the two individuals. Therefore, Memphis Zoo should be aware
that though Gina does not particularly target agonistic behavior towards one
individual, the fact that she displays the most is an issue faced by the elephant
zoo keepers.
Fig. 2: The frequency of affiliative behavior between the pairs (the first within the pair is
the initiator) are distributed almost evenly; pair Gina-Asali has the lowest frequency
PhotowastakenbyYoonkeongChi,RhodesCollege
undergraduate.