Abstract
Wild Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) form complex fission–fusion societies centered on matrilineal groups. In captivity, unrelated females remain in the same group and create social relationships. To better understand well-being in captivity, it is important to investigate the social relationships between females. However, to date, little information is available on this topic. The goal of this study was to clarify the social relationships between captive female Asian elephants using social network analysis. Our subjects were 13 captive Asian elephants at the Elephant Study Center in Surin Province, Thailand. We investigated variations in the frequencies of affiliative behaviors between dyads. Individuals that stayed in the group longer tended to play a more central role in terms of group member connections. We found that two individuals played an important role in strengthening connections, and that their removal influenced group cohesion. Our results revealed that individuals that stayed in the group long-term and that had existing relationships with others in the group tended to build better social connections, regardless of their age. In addition, the existence of some young individuals that show frequent affiliative behaviors may be important for bond strength and therefore, overall group cohesion.
Highlights
Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) are highly social animals
We used the total number of times that affiliative or aggressive behaviors were observed in each dyad for subsequent analyses
The affiliative network of our subject group was very dense; subjects frequently communicated in affiliative ways, while they seldom showed aggressive interactions
Summary
Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) are highly social animals. Recent studies on the social structure of Asian elephants have shown complex fission–fusion between groups (de Silva et al, 2011; Nandini et al, 2017). The members of our subject group were primarily unrelated females, chosen by humans, similar to individuals in most zoo-based elephant groups. The objective of this study was to understand the relationship between captive female Asian elephants using social network analysis. In wild African elephants, the eldest, largest, and most dominant females in each family group play an important role (McComb et al, 2001). This is applicable to wild Asian elephant populations (Vidya & Sukumar, 2005). It is possible that older and dominant females play an important role in social relationships in captive groups as well Affiliative behaviors such as grooming and proximity are used to evaluate social relationships in many species (Silk et al, 2013). Our first hypothesis is that older and dominant females play a central role in the affiliative network
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