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Elephants have fascinated humans for millennia. Aristotle wrote of them with awe; Hannibal used them in warfare; and John Donne called the elephant 'Nature's greatest masterpiece...The only harmless great thing'. Their ivory has been sought after and treasured in most cultures, and they have delighted zoo and circus audiences worldwide for centuries. But it wasn't until the second half of the twentieth century that people started to take an interest in elephants in the wild, and some of the most important studies of these intelligent giants have been conducted at Amboseli National Park in Kenya.
The Amboseli Elephants is the long-awaited summation of what's been learned from the Amboseli Elephant Research Project (AERP) – the longest continuously running elephant research project in the world. Cynthia J. Moss and Harvey Croze, the founders of the AERP, and Phyllis C. Lee, who has been closely involved with the project since 1982, compile more than three decades of uninterrupted study of over 2,500 individual elephants, from newborn calves to adult bulls to old matriarchs in their sixties. Chapters explore such topics as elephant ecosystems, genetics, communication, social behavior, and reproduction, as well as exciting new developments from the study of elephant minds and cognition. The Amboseli Elephants closes with a view to the future, making important arguments for the ethical treatment of elephants and suggestions to aid in their conservation.
Foreword / Robert A. Hinde
Acknowledgments
1 The Amboseli Elephants: Introduction / Cynthia J. Moss, Harvey Croze, and Phyllis C. Lee
Box 1.1 Definitions of Terms Used throughout the Book
Annex 1.1 Glossary of Maa Place-Names and Synonyms
Part 1: The Amboseli Context: Ecology, People, and Genetics / Section editors: W. Keith Lindsay and Harvey Croze
2 Amboseli Ecosystem Context: Past and Present / Harvey Croze and W. Keith Lindsay
Box 2.1 Amboseli, a Non-equilibrium Ecosystem
Annex 2.1 Population Size over Time
3 The Human Context of the Amboseli Elephants / Kadzo Kangwana and Christine Browne-Nuñez
4 The Population Genetics of the Amboseli and Kilimanjaro Elephants / Elizabeth A. Archie, Courtney L. Fitzpatrick, Cynthia J. Moss, and Susan C. Alberts
Box 4.1 Population Genetic Methods
Part 2: Habitat Use, Population Dynamics, and Ranging / Section editors: W. Keith Lindsay and Harvey Croze
5 Habitat Use, Diet Choice, and Nutritional Status in Female and Male Amboseli Elephants / W. Keith Lindsay
Box 5.1 Size and Energetics of Elephants Phyllis C. Lee
6 Ecological Patterns of Variability in Demographic Rates / Phyllis C. Lee, W. Keith Lindsay, and Cynthia J. Moss
Box 6.1 Life Tables
7 Patterns of Occupancy in Time and Space / Harvey Croze and Cynthia J. Moss
Box 7.1 Ranging of Bulls outside the Park: Data from Radio and Satellite Tracking Iain Douglas- Hamilton
Part 3: Behavior, Communication, and Cognition / Section editor: Joyce H. Poole
8 Signals, Gestures, and Behavior of African Elephants / Joyce H. Poole and Petter Granli
9 Behavioral Contexts of Elephant Acoustic Communication / Joyce H. Poole
Box 9.1 Methodology
Annex 9.1 Behavioral Contexts and Associated Call and Context Types
10 Vocal Communication and Social Knowledge in African Elephants / Karen McComb, David Reby, and Cynthia J. Moss
Box 10.1 Illustrations
Box 10.2 Structure of Elephant Contact Calls
Box 10.3 Contact Calls: Individual Identity in Call Characteristics
Box 10.4 Spectrograms of Contact Calls
11 Elephant Cognition: What We Know about What Elephants Know / Richard W. Byrne and Lucy A. Bates
Part 4: Reproductive Strategies and Social Relationships / Section editors: Phyllis C. Lee and Joyce H. Poole
12 Female Reproductive Strategies: Individual Life Histories / Cynthia J. Moss and Phyllis C. Lee
Box 12.1 Comparative Life Histories Phyllis C. Lee
Box 12.2 Dominance in Female Elephants Phyllis C. Lee
13 Female Social Dynamics: Fidelity and Flexibility / Cynthia J. Moss and Phyllis C. Lee
Box 13.1 Some Family Histories of Fission and Fusion Cynthia J. Moss
Box 13.2 Personality in Elephants Phyllis C. Lee
14 Calf Development and Maternal Rearing Strategies / Phyllis C. Lee and Cynthia J. Moss
15 Friends and Relations: Kinship and the Nature of Female Elephant Social Relationships / Elizabeth A. Archie, Cynthia J. Moss, and Susan C. Alberts
Box 15.1 Non-invasive Genetic Sampling
16 Decision Making and Leadership in Using the Ecosystem / Hamisi Mutinda, Joyce H. Poole, and Cynthia J. Moss
Box 16.1 Terminology and Methodology
17 Male Social Dynamics: Independence and Beyond / Phyllis C. Lee, Joyce H. Poole, Norah Njiraini, Catherine N. Sayialel, and Cynthia J. Moss
18 Longevity, Competition, and Musth: A Long- Term Perspective on Male Reproductive Strategies / Joyce H. Poole, Phyllis C. Lee, Norah Njiraini, and Cynthia J. Moss
Box 18.1 Genetic Paternity Analysis of the Amboseli Elephant Population / Julie A. Hollister-Smith, Joyce H. Poole, Cynthia J. Moss, and Susan C. Alberts
Part 5: Elephants in the Human World / Section editors: Cynthia J. Moss and Kadzo Kangwana
19 The Maasai-Elephant Relationship: The Evolution and Influence of Culture, Land Use, and Attitudes / Christine Browne-Nuñez
Box 19.1 Consolation for Livestock Loss: A Case Study in Mitigation between Elephants and People Soila Sayialel and Cynthia J. Moss
20 The Behavioral Responses of Elephants to the Maasai in Amboseli / Kadzo Kangwana
21 Ethical Approaches to Elephant Conservation / Joyce H. Poole, W. Keith Lindsay, Phyllis C. Lee, and Cynthia J. Moss
22 The Future of the Amboseli Elephants / Harvey Croze, Cynthia J. Moss, and W. Keith Lindsay
Appendix 1: Methods
Appendix 2: Large Animal Species Referred to in the Book
References
List of Contributors
Index
Cynthia J. Moss is the director of the Amboseli Trust for Elephants and the author of Elephant Memories: Thirteen Years in the Life of an Elephant Family. Harvey Croze is a trustee for the Amboseli Trust for Elephants and coauthor of Pyramids of Life: An Investigation of Nature's Fearful Symmetry. Phyllis C. Lee is professor of psychology at the University of Stirling. She is the author or editor of several books, including Threatened Primates of Africa and Comparative Primate Socioecology.
"This important book is a compilation of the almost forty years of elephant research conducted at Amboseli National Park, Kenya. This well-written and very accessible volume will no doubt serve as a foundation and model for future elephant ecology, genetic, social, and behavior studies throughout Africa. Chapters addressing ecological change, genetic drift, sociality, and behavior will also serve as important comparisons to elephant studies in more arid environments in Southern and West Africa, or to studies on elephant populations that have experienced acute or chronic social disruption due to human activities. The Amboseli Elephants is a critical guide and reference for current and future elephant researchers."
– Caitlin O’Connell, Ph.D., author of The Elephant’s Secret Sense: The Hidden Life of the Wild Herds of Africa
"The Amboseli Elephants is the most outstanding book ever published on these magnificent animals. Its significance and global appeal rest on the reputation of the contributors, the diverse topics considered (including social behavior, behavioral ecology, cognition and emotions, and encounters with humans), the amount of long-term data that have been collected for known individuals, its real-world approach, and its suggestions for the future of elephants as they are forced to interact increasingly with humans, many of whom wish they would go away and are making this happen. This unique and most welcome collection of essays is a must read for anyone who cares about the future of animals and of humans and will serve as a model of what is needed for many other species in peril or rapidly heading there. Read it and share widely."
– Marc Bekoff, author of Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals
