Musth discovered in the African elephant

Abstract

A long standing controversy in the field of elephant biology has recently been cleared up with the discovery that musth occurs in the African elephant. A male in musth secretes from the temporal glands, has a continual discharge of urine, becomes very aggressive and in captivity is very difficult to handle. In African elephants, males, females, juveniles and even young calves secret from the temporal glands thus until detailed observation could be carried out it was difficult to ascertain such secretion as a prime indicator of musth. A long term study started at the Amboseli in 1972 has served to show that each bull comes into musth for a period of time during the year. The duration and timing of musth periods is dependent on a complex interaction of environmental and social factors.