Daily Activity of Elephant Allomothers (Elephas maximus sumatranus) in Tangkahan Conservation Response Unit (CRU) Area, Langkat, North Sumatera

Abstract

Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus) is a social animal living in groups. A group of elephant is called herd consists of male, female, allomother and calf. Non-parenting females are called allomother with the role of maintaining calves from other females. In daily activity, allomother may also display a typical infant handling which is valuable for studying interaction between them. This study will describe the daily activity of elephant allomother in Tangkahan Conservation Response Unit (CRU) Area, Langkat, North Sumatera. Methodology used was focal animal sampling with continuous sampling of data record. Object in this study were two allomothers, namely Ardana and Sari with three calves, namely Christopher, Albertina and Eropa. Daily activities of allomothers were recorded as Defecating (DF), Urinating (UR), Mudding (MU), Resting (RE), Mating (MT), Salting (ST), Feeding (FE), Parenting (PR), Drinking (DR) and Walking (WK). We recorded 19,569 sample points from allomother daily activities with Ardana having 10,838 points and Sari having 8,821 points. The longest duration of activity recorded were: Parenting (PR) with 5,807.13 min, Walking (WK) with 5,695.50 min and Feeding (FE) with 3,842.71 min. The shortest duration recorded was Mating (MT) with only 18.96 min while remaining activities lasting between 346.25 to 614.63 min. Duration of daily activities is directly proportional to the percentage of frequency performed by allomothers.

The elephant in the family: Costs and benefits of elder siblings on younger offspring life‐history trajectory in a matrilineal mammal

“…Helpers, including elder sisters, may have two major effects on their recipients: (a) lightening the investment required by mothers and allowing them to reproduce again sooner or (b) adding to the mother's investment, allowing them to produce calves with a higher probability of survival (Crick, 1992; Emlen, 1995). In rare cases for elephants, allomothers, which can include elder sisters, can lactate to support mothers (Lee, 1987), and also contribute to feeding (Berliani et al., 2019; Rapaport & Haight, 1987). In addition, non‐lactating females sometimes allow alien offspring to manipulate their nipple (Lee, 1987; Robinson & O'Brien, 1991; Tronick et al., 1987), suggesting that allonursing might have other functions than just lactation, for instance to calm a stressed juvenile (Lee, 1987; Plotnik & de Waal, 2014).…”