Biology subjects

Keerthipriya, P.

Publications and source records attributed to Keerthipriya, P..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Female Asian elephant clans have age-based order but weak dominance resolution

The variation in dominance relationships in group-living species is often interpreted through socioecological frameworks that link social structures to resource-risk distributions. However, in elephants, such inferences are hindered by a lack of comparable assessments of within-group dominance in different species. To advance our understanding of elephant socioecology, we present here, the first study on agonistic and dominance relationships within female Asian elephant clans (most inclusive social groups), and compare our results with those from African savannah elephants. By analysing agonistic interactions, and dominance and association networks based on over four years of observations of five clans, we show that Asian elephants have a resolved but weakly structured within-clan dominance order. Female dyads showed unidirectionality, but triad motif structures of dominance networks suggested resolved dominance only in some clans. Older females were more dominant although there were moderate levels of reversals against age-based order and age difference did not dampen dyadic conflict. Neither older age nor dominant status conferred more central status in the female association network. Weak dominance resolution and the effects of age contrast with the stronger dominance and age-based order found in African savannah elephants. We identify potential socioecological and demographic explanations of female dominance in elephants.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2018

Effects of male age and female presence on male associations in a large, polygynous mammal in southern India

We present a detailed study of male associations in a roving species, the Asian elephant, using six years of data on identified, nonmusth males. Adult males spent greater proportions of their time solitarily than in mixed-sex or in all-male groups. Old (over 30 years) males were sighted more frequently with their age-peers and less frequently with young (15-30 years) males than expected at random in all-male groups. Young males were not sighted more frequently with old males than with young males, and did not disproportionately initiate associations with old males. These results suggest that male associations, in the absence of females, primarily allow for old nonmusth males to test strengths against age-peers. Social learning from older individuals did not seem to be important in male associations, unlike that observed in African savannah elephants. We also found a constraint on the sizes of all-male groups, similar to that seen in female groups in our study population, and with male group sizes being smaller than that of African savannah elephants. However, most males had a significant top associate in female absence. In mixed-sex groups, male associations occurred at random, suggesting that males were tracking female groups independently. Thus, we find some differences in male social organisation compared to the phylogenetically related African savannah elephant that occupies a similar niche, and suggest that ecological factors might have shaped the differences in these male societies.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.View Full Text

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2017

Group size constraints may mask underlying similarities in social structure: a comparison of female elephant societies

We report on female Asian elephant social structure in Nagarahole and Bandipur National Parks (Kabini population), southern India, and examine the role of group size in affecting the outcome of social structure analysis in female elephants, which show high fission-fusion dynamics. Based on five years of data, we found the Kabini association network structured into highly modular communities that we call clans. We then modified the dataset (to obtain the Kabini 500-m dataset) to match sampling methods previously used in a study each of Asian (Uda Walawe) and African savannah (Samburu) elephants, so that network and association statistics could be compared across populations. Measures of association and network structure previously used were more similar amongst the Asian elephant populations compared to Samburu. The Samburu population formed a hierarchically-nested multilevel society whereas the Asian populations did not. However, we found hierarchical clustering levels in all three populations using Louvain community detection. Moreover, the average community sizes obtained through the Louvain method were not significantly different across populations, indicating basic similarities in social structure. Since fission-fusion dynamics allow for community members to form groups of different sizes, we examined the effect of average group size on association and network statistics. Higher average association index and degree, and lower average path length in Samburu compared to the Kabini 500-m dataset were explained by the larger average group size in Samburu. Thus, underlying similarities in the social networks of species showing fission-fusion dynamics may be obscured by differences in average group size.\n\nSignificance StatementVarious measures of associations and social network analyses have been used to compare social structures of different populations. We studied the social structure of female Asian elephants in a southern Indian population and compared it with those of a Sri Lankan Asian elephant population and an African savannah elephant population. We showed that, while there were social differences between the Asian and African savannah elephant populations using previous methods, there were basic similarities across all three populations using a method of network community detection. This discrepancy across analyses partly stemmed from differences in average group size between populations. Average group size in fission-fusion societies variously affected different association and network statistics, which has implications for inferences about social structure.

animal behavior and cognition↗