Information Videos on Animal Reproduction system and Mating Behaviour, Elephant, Polar Bear,Horse,Kangaroo,Gorilla,Leopard
Africal elephant - Animal Six
Mating behavior
Male in Musth
Male in Musth
Musth
Adult males enter a state of increased testosterone known as musth. In a population in southern India, males first enter musth at the age of 15, but it is not very intense until they are older than 25. At Amboseli, male under 24 do not go into musth, while half of those aged 25–35 and all those over 35 do. Young male appear to enter musth during the dry season (January–May), while older males go through it during the wet season (June–December). The main characteristic of a male's musth is a fluid secreted from the temporal gland that runs down the side of his face. He may urinate with his penis still in his sheath, which causes the urine to spray on his hind legs. Behaviors associated with musth include walking with the head held high and swinging, picking at the ground with the tusks, marking, rumbling and waving only one ear at a time. This can last from a day to four months.
Males become extremely aggressive during musth. Size is the determining factor in agonistic encounters when the individuals have the same condition. In contests between musth and non-musth individuals, musth males win the majority of the time, even when the non-musth male is larger. A male may stop showing signs of musth when he encounters a musth male of higher rank. Those of equal rank tend to avoid each other. Agnostic encounters typically consist of threat displays, chases, and minor sparring with the tusks. Serious fights are rare.
Female Organs
Male Organs
Mating
Elephants are polygynous breeders, and copulation are most frequent during the peak of the wet season.A female in estrous releases chemical signals (pheromones) in her urine and vaginal secretions to signal her readiness to mate. A male will follow a potential mate and assess her condition with the flehmen response, which requires the male to collect a chemical sample with his trunk and bring it to the vomeronasal organ.The oestrous cycle of a female lasts 14–16 weeks with a 4–6-week follicular phase and an 8- to 10-week luteal phase. While most mammals have one surge of luteinizing hormone during the follicular phase, elephants have two. The first (or anovulatory) surge, could signal to males that the female is in oestrus by changing her scent, but ovulation does not occur until the second (or ovulatory) surge.Fertility rates in females decline around 45–50 years of age.
males engage in a behaviour known as mate-guarding, where they follow oestrous females and defend them from other males. Most mate-guarding is done by musth males, and females actively seek to be guarded by them, particularly older ones.Thus these males have more reproductive success. Musth appears to signal to females the condition of the male, as weak or injured males do not have normal musths.For young females, the approach of an older male can be intimidating, so her relatives stay nearby to provide support and reassurance. During copulation, the male lays his trunk over the female's back. The penis is very mobile, being able to move independently of the pelvis. Prior to mounting, it curves forward and upward. Copulation lasts about 45 seconds and does not involve pelvic thrusting or ejaculatory pause. Elephant sperm must swim close to 2 m (6.6 ft) to reach the egg. By comparison, human sperm has to swim around only 76.2 mm (3.00 in).
Homosexual behavior is frequent in both sexes. As in heterosexual interactions, this involves mounting. Male elephants sometimes stimulate each other by play fighting and "championships" may form between old males and younger males. Female same-sex behaviors have been documented only in captivity where they are known to masturbate one another with their trunks.
