"Right-Trunkers" and "Left-Trunkers": Side Preferences of Trunk Movements in Wild Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus).

Martin, Franziska; Niemitz, Carsten

doi:10.1037/0735-7036.117.4.371

Cited by 33 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…The proportion of right-trunkers and left-trunkers did not differ significantly between two studies: 51 % of right-trunkers out of 41 subjects (Martin and Niemitz 2003) vs. 57 % of right-trunkers out of 83 subjects (our study) (twoproportion z test: z = −0.63, P = 0.528). Consistency of lateralization between different elephant populations was tested by comparison of our results with those ob- tained by Keerthipriya et al (2015) on Asian elephant population in southern India.…”

Section: Animal Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…1) in an individual using a binomial test. As a result, the individuals were classified as 'left-trunkers' , 'right-trunkers' (Martin and Niemitz, 2003;Keerthipriya et al, 2015), or non-lateralized. A binomial test was used to evaluate the significance of differences between the number of left-trunkers and right-trunkers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The results of the present study were compared with the results obtained by Martin and Niemitz (2003) on the same elephant population to examine the stability of lateralization pattern over time. The proportion of right-trunkers and left-trunkers did not differ significantly between two studies: 51 % of right-trunkers out of 41 subjects (Martin and Niemitz 2003) vs. 57 % of right-trunkers out of 83 subjects (our study) (twoproportion z test: z = −0.63, P = 0.528).…”

Section: Animal Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most of data were collected at the valleys surrounding Uda Walawe and Mau Ara reservoirs providing yearround water as well as at several smaller seasonal natural and artificial waterbodies. These open areas provide great opportunity for daytime observations, since Uda Walawe elephants groups feed there on the short grass during the dry season (Martin and Niemitz, 2003). The total population of elephants in the park is estimated to be about a thousand individuals (de Silva et al, 2011).…”

Section: Study Sites and Subjectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Asian elephants, Elephas maximus, were examined both in captivity (Haakonsson and Semple, 2009) and in the wild (in Sri Lanka: Martin and Niemitz, 2003;in India: Keerthipriya et al, 2015), while a female African elephant, Loxodonta cyclotis, was observed in the zoo (Racine, 1980). In contrast to humans (Perelle & Ehrman 1994), great apes (Meguerditchian et al, 2013), bipedal marsupials (Giljov et al, 2015), parrots (Harris, 1989), anuran amphibians (Malashichev, 2006) and many other vertebrates (Ströckens et al,2013), elephants showed no population-level side biases in their manipulative behaviours neither with the use of the trunk nor with the use of the forelimbs (Haakonsson and Semple, 2009;Martin and Niemitz, 2003;Keerthipriya et al, 2015). However, taking into account that manifestation of motor lateralization depends on the nature of the task (Rogers, 2009), the full understanding of the lateralized trunk use in elephants cannot be gained without investigating it in different behavioural contexts.…”

Section: Animal Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Context-dependent lateralization of trunk movements in wild Asian elephants

Giljov

Silva

Karenina

2017

BioComm

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Asymmetrical trunk use in elephants represents a distinctive example of motor lateralization. Previous studies have shown that trunk movements in the elephant behaviour associated with feeding is lateralized at the individual, but not the population level. The manifestation of lateralized behaviour depends on the nature of the behaviour and is usually more pronounced in social context. Therefore, we hypothesized that population-level lateralization of trunk use in elephants is manifested in social behaviour. One-sided biases in trunk movements were assessed in wild individually-identified Asian elephants during feeding (tearing off a tuft of grass) and social interactions (trunk-to-mouth contacts and trunk-to-genitals contacts between male initiator and female recipient). In feeding, lateralization at the individual and population levels was estimated based on 50 lateral trunk uses per individual. In social interactions, only the population-level bias was assessed using a single trunk contact from each individual. For trunk movements during feeding, elephants showed robust individual preferences, but no population-level lateralization. The distribution of right-and left-trunkers in the present study did not differ significantly from that obtained in previous studies of both the same elephant population and geographically distinct population. No population-level bias in trunk movements during trunk-to-mouth contacts was revealed. In trunk-to-genitals contacts, in contrast, a population-level lateralization was found. Right-sided trunk movements prevailed in males touching females. While individual preferences for feeding, combined with the absence of one-sided population bias, is obviously a species-typical characteristic of Asian elephants, social behaviour, such as male-female socio-sexual contacts, can elicit population-level lateralization of trunk use in this species. The right-sided bias in trunk-to-genitals contacts may reflect lateralization of olfactory perception. If this is the case, the revealed lateralization indicates a right-hemispheric advantage in the processing of social information which is consistent with the general tendency in mammals.

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Section: Animal Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 86%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Animal Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Sites and Subjectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Animal Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Context-dependent lateralization of trunk movements in wild Asian elephants

Giljov

Silva

Karenina

2017

BioComm

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Effect of the habitat and tusks on trunk grasping techniques in African savannah elephants

Costes,

Soppelsa,

Houssin

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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Among tetrapods, grasping is an essential function involved in many vital behaviours. The selective pressures that led to this function were widely investigated in species with prehensile hands and feet. Previous studies namely highlighted a strong effect of item properties but also of the species habitat on manual grasping behaviour. African savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana) are known to display various prehensile abilities and use their trunk in a large diversity of habitats. Composed of muscles and without a rigid structure, the trunk is a muscular hydrostat with great freedom of movement. This multitasking organ is particularly recruited for grasping food items while foraging. Yet, the diet of African savannah elephants varies widely between groups living in different habitats. Moreover, they have tusks alongside the trunk which can assist in grasping behaviours, and their tusk morphologies are known to vary considerably between groups. Therefore, in this study, we investigate the food grasping techniques used by the trunk of two elephant groups that live in different habitats: an arid study site in Etosha National Park in Namibia, and an area with consistent water presence in Kruger National Park in South Africa. We characterised the tusks profiles and compared the grasping techniques and their frequencies of use for different foods. Our results show differences in food‐grasping techniques between the two groups. These differences are related to the food item property and tusk profile discrepancies highlighted between the two groups. We suggest that habitat heterogeneity, particularly aridity gaps, may induce these differences. This may reveal an optimisation of grasping types depending on habitat, food size and accessibility, as well as tusk profiles.

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Hemispheric Asymmetries

2020

Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences

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First, and most of all, I wish to thank Dr Markus Hausmann. Throughout the entire PhD process he provided me with help and support; a lot of his time; inspiration; freedom to pursue my own ideas; constructive critical comments; and encouragement at key times. These are just a few things that made him invaluable. He is a role model for me as a researcher and supervisor and I hope that we will continue to work together in the future. And may the force be with you! I would further like to thank Prof Onur Gunturkun, who sparked my interest in the fascinating field of biopsychology and provided the initial idea for this thesis. I thank Prof Charles Heywood for his most appreciated comments on the final version of the manuscript and my paper co-authors Jonas Rose, Dr Stuart Leask, Sebastian Ocklenburg and Daniel Schneider for their suggestions and collaboration. My parents, Anne and Ingo Hirnstein, deserve my deepest gratitude as without their unconditional encouragement and support, this thesis would not have been possible. My thanks also include Klaudia and Herbert Gunther and Ruth Hirnstein. Moreover, I thank my friends who helped me through all the inevitable scientific (and less scientific) lows during my PhD, particularly Christian Budis, Dr Federico Bursgens, Marcel Plexnies, and Irina Kramer. Last but not least, special thanks go to Dr Ulrike Bayer. Doing a PhD with you by my side was both a privilege and pleasure. I am proud to be your colleague and friend. Diese Doktorarbeit widme ich meinem GrolSvater Fritz Hirnstein, der kaum Englisch kann, aber in diesem Moment sicher von irgendwo da oben herunterschaut und ein wenig lachelt.

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"Right-Trunkers" and "Left-Trunkers": Side Preferences of Trunk Movements in Wild Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus).

Cited by 33 publications

References 69 publications

Context-dependent lateralization of trunk movements in wild Asian elephants

Context-dependent lateralization of trunk movements in wild Asian elephants

Effect of the habitat and tusks on trunk grasping techniques in African savannah elephants

Hemispheric Asymmetries

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