ELEPHANTS- Estrus

It’s the dry season in Kenya and other parts of Africa where Elephants live, spread out in family groups across the plains. For some female elephants, it’s also a time for mating– but not for long. I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by the American Museum of Natural History.

“A female only gives birth once every four or five years and the window of opportunity when she’s in breeding condition, or estrus, is very brief. A couple of days out of every four or five years.”

Katy Payne is a Research Associate in the Bioacoustic Research Program at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.

“And as it turns out, when a female comes into estrus she’s almost invariably found by males. This is remarkable because females and males when they’re adults live by and large, quite separately from one another. So how is it that the males are finding the females during that window of opportunity?”

The secret to the female elephant’s mating success turns out to be the call we’re listening to. This sound can travel great distances, alerting males to the female’s readiness for mating.

“It turns out that the females make a very powerful low frequency call. It’s the only call that I would refer to as a song in elephants because it’s repetitive. It’s always the same and when you hear it you know that this means there’s a female in estrus. So it’s her way of allowing the male who was at that time dominant in the population to know that she’s available for breeding.”

Pulse of the Planet is presented by the American Museum of Natural History. Additional funding for this series has been provided by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.

ELEPHANTS- Estrus

With only a few days to mate, how do female African elephants find a partner?
Air Date:05/13/1999
Scientist:
Transcript:

It's the dry season in Kenya and other parts of Africa where Elephants live, spread out in family groups across the plains. For some female elephants, it's also a time for mating-- but not for long. I'm Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by the American Museum of Natural History.

"A female only gives birth once every four or five years and the window of opportunity when she's in breeding condition, or estrus, is very brief. A couple of days out of every four or five years."

Katy Payne is a Research Associate in the Bioacoustic Research Program at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.

"And as it turns out, when a female comes into estrus she's almost invariably found by males. This is remarkable because females and males when they're adults live by and large, quite separately from one another. So how is it that the males are finding the females during that window of opportunity?"

The secret to the female elephant's mating success turns out to be the call we're listening to. This sound can travel great distances, alerting males to the female's readiness for mating.

"It turns out that the females make a very powerful low frequency call. It's the only call that I would refer to as a song in elephants because it's repetitive. It's always the same and when you hear it you know that this means there's a female in estrus. So it's her way of allowing the male who was at that time dominant in the population to know that she's available for breeding."

Pulse of the Planet is presented by the American Museum of Natural History. Additional funding for this series has been provided by the National Science Foundation. I'm Jim Metzner.