Observations on Five Savanna Elephant Clan Age Structures

Abstract

ABSTRACT The age structures of five East African elephant clans culled between 1965 and 1969 are established. Combined, calves of the year formed the largest annual class, declines in age classes were steep to puberty, levelled out until about 30 years, then accelerated, but twice as fast in males as in females. This pattern did not hold good for clans examined separately. In two, calves of the year were fewer than their precursors and annual age classes showed asynchronous variation between clans. The similarity of these age class shapes to Kenya's Amboseli Elephant Research Project's 46 year findings based on known-age animals, suggests that while a clan's age peaks and depressions are unique to it, the pattern may be characteristic of savanna elephant clans more widely. Male mortality post 30 was steep in areas without hunting and attributed to musth-related fighting, to which human hunting was additional where it had occurred.