Ethogram 2

Species: Asian elephant (Elephas maximus)

Use: General activity

Authors: Hilda Tresz, Alan Roocroft, Dr Kevin Wright, Heather Wright, Stephen Koyle

Methods: Focal sampling with fixed scheduled format

Feed (F)– Any ingestion of basic diet hay, pellets, browse. produce, or another elephant’s dung etc. from ground.

Foraging via Enrichment (FE) - Any ingestionof basic dietprovided through an enrichment device or any enriching ways. Note: manipulating empty feeders are considered ME (manipulating enrichment).

Drink (D) – Draw water into trunk and then spray it into the mouth.

Dusting (DS) – Throwing browse, dirt, dung, hay, mud, or sand on self.

Wallowing (W) – Laying down and wiggling in mud, dirt or sand.

Bathing (B) - Individual lying, standing in the pond or under the shower.

Digging (DG) – Use trunk and foot movements to stab into ground.

Rubbing (R) – Rub head or body against a wall, rock, tree or a large object.

Locomotion (LO) – Individual is moving forward or backward. 

Stand (ST) – Individual is more or less stationary in an upright position.  No other behaviors are occurring simultaneously.

Lie (LI) – Individual is in lateral recumbence. Weight is no longer supported by legs.

Manipulate Object or Environment (MO) – Individual moves, pushes, tosses or picks up objects within its environment such as grass, rocks, sticks, dirt or sand, pond,  walls, etc.

Manipulate Enrichment (ME) – Individual moves, pushes, tosses, or picks up enrichment provided including toys, logs, etc. Does not include food related enrichment.

Sway (SW) – Move body side to side repeatedly. Usually with all four feet on the ground. May lift one forefoot at a time.

Facing door (FD) – Individual is standing by the door, facing it (not including swaying).

Positive Self-Directed Behavior (SDB+) [Self directed behavior]– Individual touches, rubs, or grooms own body. Animal may use mouth, trunk, or appendages to contact any area of the body.

Negative Self-Directed behavior (SDB-) - [Self directed behavior]May include nipple suckling, pulling or ear pinna sucking of own body or another member’s body parts with the trunk or the mouth for more than 5 seconds.

Positive Social Interaction with conspecifics (SIC+) – Non aggressive behavior that involves contact between conspecifics. Does not include interactions with keepers. 

May include:

• Approach- One elephant walks toward another elephant.
• Greeting ceremony, intense – Reunion of elephants within the same unit, or familiar units.  Gathering together, spinning, urinating, defecating, temporal gland secretion, rumbling, touching, ear flap, ear fold, ear raise and ear spread, trunk entwining, back toward, roar, scream, trumpeting. Animals sometimes extend their trunks into each others mouth, touching the tongue or mouth and may touch each others teats.
• Inspect – One animal uses its trunk to smell/probe the genital/anal area of another elephant.
• Body touch – continuous head or body contact with another elephant, other than touching it with the trunk or tusk.
• Social play – Trunk wrestling, shoving, butting, bullying each other.
• Trunk tangles – Elephants wrap trunks around one another or gently push each other.
• Move away – One animal moves away from another elephant.
• Rump present - One elephant presents its rump, hind quarters, or backs up to another elephant.
• Sharing food - Eating from the same food pile, simultaneously.
• Sharing objects – More than one elephant simultaneously handling the same object (e.g., rope or tree branch).
• Soliciting – Sits on own rump, throws head back and performs a trunk curl. Often used to attack another elephant.
• Sidle – Approach another elephant by moving sideways.
• Submissive approach - Walk toward another elephant with head lowered.
• Offering food - Pushing food toward another elephant.
• Stroke – Moving the “hand” of the trunk back and forth on the body of another elephant (e.g., a sleeping elephant).

Negative Social Interaction with conspecifics (SIC-) – Aggressive behavior that involves contact between conspecifics. Does not include aggression to keepers. 

May include:

• Beating the ground violently with the trunk.
• Spread ear threat – Ears spread, head above shoulders, jaw tucked in. shall I throw this out?
• Charge, Mock – “Run” toward another animal or an object (.e.g., car, train, human, birds) with ears extended, head and tusk high, tail extended and (sometimes) trunk extended. Charger does not follow through, but stops short of contact with target, and often trumpets. Also occurs as a social behavior.
• Charge, Real – Rapidly approach another animal with trunk tucked under head, head up, and chin tuck. Attempts to contact target. Often a “silent”charge, without trumpeting. Ears usually close to the head. Often has an ear fold.
• Head shake – An abrupt shaking of the head that causes ears to flap; can also be used in play.
• Aggression, Redirected – Aggressive behavior towards one elephant during an agonistic interaction with another elephant.
• Alert posture – Standing with the head raised, ears spread with bottom part of ear folded back so that a prominent horizontal ridge appears, tail raised, trunk raised or turned in a “Sniff” position.
• Back arch – Possible indicator of fear.
• Blocking (resource holding) – Stationary elephant places its body between a resource, typically food, and an approaching elephant. Resource holder usually turns its rump toward the approaching (or dominant) elephant.
• Claim food rapid – approach to another elephant and pick up food within other elephant’s reach, or in the other elephant’s mouth or trunk, or on its tusk or body.
• Pursuit – One elephant runs after another. The pursuer is attempting to reduce the separation between animals. The elephants may be moving at a fast walking space.
• Retreat – walking away from the approach of another elephant, usually looking back over its shoulders – alternating shoulders.
• Stalk – Follow another elephant, usually displacing it without reducing the distance between animals. Sustained displacement. Following the target elephant at a constant distance without contact.
• Throwing – Lifting or uprooting objects and throwing them in the general direction of an opponent.
• Attack with mouth or leg.
• Striking with trunk.
• Bite – The aggressor puts the tail or other body part of another elephant in its mouth.
• Head butt - The aggressor charges/rams another elephant with its head. The aggressor may hit the recipient on its side, hind legs, and front legs. This is a side-on hit, not a hit from above.
• Sparring – Head to head contact between two elephants. Pushing trunks, tusking, shove, wrestle or trunk entwine with another elephant. Headstand – Use forehead and/or top of base of trunk to press on another animal. Tusking may, or may not occur. Usually kneel on forelegs, or front leg extention.
• Neutral Social Interaction with conspecifics (NSI) Animals are standing next to each other within 5 feet and ignore one another. No physical contact.

Positive Social Interaction with Keeper (SIK+) [Working with trainer] Non aggressive behavior that involves contact between the animal and the keeper.

May include:

• Approach- One elephant walks toward the keeper.
• Greeting – The human equivalent of greeting is touching the tongue with the hand. Some handlers will also grab the teat as an affectionate gesture.
• Inspect – Animal uses its trunk to smell, touch the handler.
• Social play – Vocalizing, ear flapping, play banging on the door.
• Move away – One animal moves away from another elephant.

Negative Social Interaction with Keeper (SIK-) [Working with trainer] Aggressive behavior that involves contact between the animal and the keeper.

May include:

• Beating the ground violently with the trunk.
• Spread ear threat – Ears spread, head above shoulders, jaw tucked in.
• V-ear – Ears spread, with bottom part of ear folded back so that a prominent horizontal ridge appears.
• Mock charge – A charge with head high and ears spread that stops short of its target.
• Head shake – An abrupt shaking of the head that causes ears to flap; can also be used in play.
• Throwing – Lifting or uprooting objects and throwing them in the general direction of an opponent.
• Attack with mouth or leg.
• Striking with trunk.
• Bite 

Throwing Objects at visitors (TO) – Animal makes aggressive moves toward the visitors by throwing rock, sticks, faces, etc. at the visitors.

Vocalizing (V) - Animal uses low/high frequency sound waves for communication.

• Rumble – A resonant growl, mild to strong arousal during greeting.
• Loud snort – Extreme arousal.
• Trumpet – A long, high-amplitude squeak
• Roar – Loud grow, a pulsating sound
• “Motorcycle O” – Loud growl with changing pulse rate, an answer to roar.
• Chirp – Multiple short squeaks in conflicts.
• Boom – A snort with the trunk tip bounced on the ground as a threat.

Out of view (OV) – Individual is not in view.

Other (OT) – Individual is engaging in a behavior not covered in the ethogram descriptions above.