Abstract
The Proboscideans, an order of mammals including elephants, are the largest of the Earth lands animals. One probable consequence of the rapid increase of their body size is the development of the trunk, a multitask highly sensitive organ used in a large repertoire of behaviours. The absence of bones in the trunk allows a substantial degree of freedom for movement in all directions, and this ability could underlie individual-level strategies. We hypothesised a stronger behavioural variability in simple tasks, and a correlation between the employed behaviours and the shape and size of the food. The observations of a captive group of African elephants allowed us to create a complete catalogue of trunk movements in feeding activities. We noted manipulative strategies and impact of food item properties on the performed behaviours. The results show that a given item is manipulated with a small panel of behaviours, and some behaviours are specific to a single shape of items. The study of the five main feeding behaviours emphasises a significant variability between the elephants. Each individual differed from every other individual in the proportion of at least one behaviour, and every behaviour was performed in different proportions by the elephants. Our findings suggest that during their lives elephants develop individual strategies adapted to the manipulated items, which increases their feeding efficiency.
Highlights
Manipulation of food and tools has a central role in strategies and survival of several different species (Sustaita et al, 2013)
Manipulation behaviours and food items The first two components of the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) explained 55.3 % of the variance in the correlation matrix
In our study we focused on feeding behaviours and we highlighted the important influence of the food properties on the gripping strategies
Summary
Manipulation of food and tools has a central role in strategies and survival of several different species (Sustaita et al, 2013). Many mammals have been studied in this regard, the literature on primates dominates this field of research. Primates use their anterior limbs and hands and fingers to manipulate the objects of their interest. The size and the mobility of the object, or the complexity of the task clearly affect the grasping techniques and the hand preference (Bardo, Pouydebat & Meunier, 2015; Peckre et al, 2019a; Pouydebat et al, 2010; Reghem et al, 2011). Inter-individual differences in object manipulation behaviours have been quantified in primates (Bardo et al, 2016, 2017). Species lacking suitable hands are able to manipulate items with a high precision, such as birds with their beaks (Brunon et al, 2014) and elephants with their trunks (Hart et al, 2001)
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