Musth is a Hindi and Urdu word for intoxicated. It refers to a period of heightened aggression and sexual activity in male elephants, driven by a surge of testosterone.
During musth, male elephants may fight with other males for access to females, and may also become more dangerous to humans.
Testosterone is the main sex hormone in male vertebrates and is part of the steroid group of hormones. It circulates in the bloodstream and accumulates in various tissues, including the tusks.
Tusks are elongated upper incisor teeth that grow throughout the life of an elephant or a mammoth.
What is musth and how does it affect male elephants?
(Photo : Tom Cooper/Getty Images)
By analyzing the growth layers of tusks, scientists can measure the levels of testosterone and other hormones over time.
This can reveal information about the reproductive behavior, health and stress of these animals, as per Discover Magazine.
Musth usually occurs in male elephants that surpass the age of 10 to 15.
It has a more significant impact on adult males, as the effects are suppressed in younger males.
Musth differs from the rut in that the female elephant's estrus cycle is not seasonally linked, whereas musth most often takes place in winter.
Furthermore, bulls in musth have often been known to attack female elephants, regardless of whether or not the females are in heat.
How did scientists discover musth in woolly mammoths?
A new study led by researchers from the University of Michigan has shown that woolly mammoths, extinct relatives of modern elephants, also experienced musth.
This is the first direct evidence of musth in mammoths, as previous studies only inferred it from indirect clues such as skeletal injuries and broken tusk tips, as per Phys.org
The researchers analyzed a permafrost-preserved woolly mammoth tusk from Siberia that belonged to an adult male who lived more than 33,000 years ago.
They extracted traces of sex hormones from the tusk and found that the mammoth had annually recurring testosterone surges up to 10 times higher than baseline levels.
These peaks are consistent with musth-related testosterone spikes observed in an African bull elephant tusk that was also analyzed by the researchers.
The study demonstrates that both modern and ancient tusks hold traces of testosterone and other steroid hormones, which can be used to study the physiology and behavior of these animals.
The study also establishes dentin, the mineralized tissue that makes up the interior portion of all teeth, as a useful repository for some hormones.
The study has broad applications in zoology and paleontology, as well as medical, forensic and archaeological studies.
It also sets the stage for further advances in the developing field of paleoendocrinology, which is the study of hormones in ancient organisms.
What are the implications and challenges of studying musth in mammoths?
Studying musth in mammoths can help us understand how these extinct animals lived and interacted with each other and their environment, as per Safaris Africana.
It can also shed light on how they adapted to changing climates and habitats over time.
For example, musth may have influenced their migration patterns, social structure, mating system and survival strategies.
However, studying musth in mammoths also poses many challenges.
One of them is finding well-preserved tusks that can provide reliable hormone records.
Another challenge is interpreting the hormone data in relation to other factors such as age, season, diet, stress, and disease.
A third challenge is comparing the hormone data from mammoths with those from modern elephants, which may have different ecological and evolutionary histories.
Therefore, more research is needed to fully understand the role and significance of musth in mammoths and how it compares with that of modern elephants.
Such research can contribute to our knowledge of these fascinating animals and their evolutionary history.
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