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Defaecation by African elephants (Loxodonta africana africana (Blumenbach))
Author(s) -
COE MALCOLM
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
african journal of ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.499
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1365-2028
pISSN - 0141-6707
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2028.1972.tb00725.x
Subject(s) - morning , national park , geography , population , zoology , african elephant , ecology , biology , demography , botany , sociology
Summary A study of defaecation in the African elephant was carried out at the Voi headquarters of the Tsavo (East) National Park. Four orphaned animals aged between 1 and 10 years were observed for 4 days and 3 nights. During the day the time and weight of each individual's defaecation was recorded while at night only the time of defaecation. Details of all the records are presented. Analysis has shown that the amount of dung produced with each defaecation bears a similar characteristic to that of the growth curve of these animals. The rate of defaecation does not vary significantly with age. Records of defaecation arranged by time demonstrate an apparent periodicity with a low peak mid‐morning and a high peak mid‐afternoon. The potential use of this information in feeding and population studies is discussed.