Abstract
Mature male African (Loxodonta africana) and Asian (Elephas maximus) elephants exhibit periodic episodes of musth, a state in which serum androgens are elevated, food intake typically decreases, aggressiveness often increases, and breeding success is enhanced. Urine is a common source of chemical signals in a variety of mammals. Elephants in musth dribble urine almost continuously for lengthy periods, suggesting that the chemicals in their urine may reveal their physiological condition to conspecifics. We investigated the volatile urinary chemicals in captive male elephants using automated solid phase dynamic extraction (SPDE) and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). We found higher levels of alkan-2-ones, alkan-2-ols, and some aromatic compounds in urine from males in musth than in urine from non-musth males or from females. Levels of ketones and alcohols increased as the urine aged, likely due to microbial metabolism of fatty acids. Protein-derived aromatic metabolites also increased in abundance after urination, likely due to microbial hydrolysis of hydrophilic conjugates. We suggest that microbes may play an important role in timed release of urinary semiochemicals during elephant musth.
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Acknowledgments
Urine samples were supplied by Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Indianapolis Zoo, Jacksonville Zoo, Knoxville Zoo, Louisville Zoo, Maryland Zoo, Memphis Zoo, Miami Metro Zoo, Nashville Zoo, Riddle’s Elephant and Wildlife Sanctuary, Six Flags Marine World, Seneca Park Zoo, and Toledo Zoo. Expertise and assistance in obtaining bacterial cultures and urinalyses were provided by Drs. Konnie Plumlee and Carl Fulton. Valuable suggestions were made by Heidi Riddle (Riddle’s Elephant and Wildlife Sanctuary). John Christie and Ben Davis carried out some preliminary experiments. We thank Hendrix College for financial support via the Odyssey Program. Additional funding in the early stages of this research was provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation (Award Nos. 02-17062, -17068 and -16862 to B.A.S., T.E.G. and the late L.E.L. Rasmussen, respectively). T.E.G. thanks John and Laura Byrd for their generous research support.
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This manuscript is dedicated to the late Dr. L. E. L. “Bets” Rasmussen.
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Goodwin, T.E., Broederdorf, L.J., Burkert, B.A. et al. Chemical Signals of Elephant Musth: Temporal Aspects of Microbially-Mediated Modifications. J Chem Ecol 38, 81–87 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-011-0056-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-011-0056-8