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Sexual Dimorphic Social Development And Female Intrasexual Chemical Signaling Of African Elephants (Loxodonta Africana), Jordana M. Meyer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Author's abstract: African elephants are a polygynous species in which males and females carry out dimorphic lifestyles. Males search and compete for reproductively active females, while females care for offspring and facilitate group cohesion. The objectives of this study was a) to compare the development of sexually dimorphic behaviors and developmental trends between young male and female wild African elephants and b) to determine the ability of captive female African elephants to discern between the follicular and luteal phase of conspecifics through trunk-tip contacts and the investigation of urine, and whether the reproductive phase of the receiver affected the response …