Publications by authors named "Norah Njiraini"
Article Synopsis
- Female African elephants communicate their reproductive status not only through urine chemicals but also by changing their posture and behavior, especially when they are sexually receptive.
- Research over 28 years in the Amboseli population shows that parous (previously given birth) females sometimes display "simulated" oestrus behaviors even when not truly receptive, particularly in the presence of female relatives new to oestrus.
- While several theories were considered for this behavior, it's suggested that parous females may be helping relatives by modeling appropriate mating behaviors rather than gaining personal reproductive benefits.
Monitoring the location of conspecifics may be important to social mammals. Here, we use an expectancy-violation paradigm to test the ability of African elephants (Loxodonta africana) to keep track of their social companions from olfactory cues. We presented elephants with samples of earth mixed with urine from female conspecifics that were either kin or unrelated to them, and either unexpected or highly predictable at that location.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnimals can benefit from classifying predators or other dangers into categories, tailoring their escape strategies to the type and nature of the risk. Studies of alarm vocalizations have revealed various levels of sophistication in classification. In many taxa, reactions to danger are inflexible, but some species can learn the level of threat presented by the local population of a predator or by specific, recognizable individuals.
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