Short-term and delayed effects of mother death on calf mortality in Asian elephants

Behavioral Ecology : Official Journal of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology
Mirkka LahdenperäVirpi Lummaa

Abstract

Long-lived, highly social species with prolonged offspring dependency can show long postreproductive periods. The Mother hypothesis proposes that a need for extended maternal care of offspring together with increased maternal mortality risk associated with old age select for such postreproductive survival, but tests in species with long postreproductive periods, other than humans and marine mammals, are lacking. Here, we investigate the Mother hypothesis with longitudinal data on Asian elephants from timber camps of Myanmar 1) to determine the costs of reproduction on female age-specific mortality risk within 1 year after calving and 2) to quantify the effects of mother loss on calf survival across development. We found that older females did not show an increased immediate mortality risk after calving. Calves had a 10-fold higher mortality risk in their first year if they lost their mother, but this decreased with age to only a 1.1-fold higher risk in the fifth year. We also detected delayed effects of maternal death: calves losing their mother during early ages still suffered from increased mortality risk at ages 3-4 and during adolescence but such effects were weaker in magnitude. Consequently, the Mother hypothesis could ac...Continue Reading

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Citations

Feb 24, 2016·Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology·Phyllis C LeeCynthia J Moss
Jun 11, 2016·Scientific Reports·Mirkka LahdenperäVirpi Lummaa
Nov 2, 2017·Scientific Reports·Shifra Z Goldenberg, George Wittemyer
Oct 9, 2019·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Mirkka LahdenperäVirpi Lummaa
Dec 11, 2019·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Stuart NattrassDaniel W Franks
Dec 6, 2019·PLoS Biology·Frédéric ThomasAlexandra Alvergne
Nov 2, 2019·Animals : an Open Access Journal From MDPI·Hannah S Mumby
Apr 26, 2020·Animals : an Open Access Journal From MDPI·Ellen S DierenfeldMirkka Lahdenperä
Feb 26, 2019·Scientific Reports·Martin W SeltmannMirkka Lahdenperä
Jan 15, 2021·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Matthew N ZippleSusan C Alberts
Dec 21, 2021·Development and Psychopathology·Willem E Frankenhuis, Dorsa Amir

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