The discovery could have implications for trophy hunters, who target the biggest and oldest bulls.
elderly males like Matt invest much more effort in tracking down and mating with females than do younger male elephants, according to a new study.
For about three months a year, Matt—who lives in a population that spans Kenya’s Samburu and Buffalo Springs National Reserves—goes into reproductive overdrive, a state biologists call musth (pronounced “must.”) During musth, middle-aged and elderly male elephants roam the savanna—spending little time eating or resting—to mate with as many females as they can. Females live in matriarchal groups, and males tend to live in separate groups until going into musth.
“Musth males are like testosterone machines,” says Lucy Taylor, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford who coauthored a new study on the phenomenon. They constantly drip strong-smelling urine, and specialized glands on their cheeks swell and ooze a thick liquid that contains pheromones.
Males in musth are so attractive to females that almost 80 percent of calves in the same population are sired by them, according to a 2007 study.
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