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What Are the Causes of Aggression in Elephants?

Elephants are the largest living land mammals: Adult bull African bush elephants may weigh more than 15,000 pounds and stretch over 20 feet from trunk to tail. Somewhat smaller are Asian elephants and African forest elephants, but both still tower over other terrestrial creatures. Elephants are entirely herbivorous and often flighty at signs of danger, but they can be supremely aggressive when agitated by a potential threat, sexual hormones or social tension.

Defense
- Lions, which may prey on African elephant calves or injured adults, may be driven off by a herd.
  
  Adult elephants are usually immune to predation, other than by human hunters. Calves, juveniles and excessively hampered individuals may be taken by lions, spotted hyenas, tigers and other large predators, which adult elephants often respond to with aggressive defense. Humans traveling in elephant country should know the signs of defensive behavior in elephants because the enormous animals may attack if they feel vulnerable. Even vehicles are not safe from their onslaught. Elephants may engage in demonstration charges with flared ears, raised trunks and trumpeting calls, but often pull back without physically contacting the source of their agitation. Yet they can and will execute real charges, sometimes undertaken without noise and bluster.
Musth
- Elephant bulls undergoing the heightened testoterone levels of musth are highly aggressive.
  
  Musth, which comes from a Hindi word meaning "intoxicated," refers to a period of enhanced testosterone production in sexually mature bull elephants. During these times of year, male elephants secrete heavily from their temporal glands, staining the sides of their heads, and behave extremely aggressively toward other animals, including fellow elephants. Bulls in musth tend to dominate other males and seem to be particularly attractive mating partners to cows. Their irritability makes musth-afflicted bulls particularly dangerous: They may unpredictably attack zookeepers and circus handlers, for example. African elephants in musth have even been known to kill rhinoceroses.
Social Strife
- Bull elephants may square off in both play tussles and real dominance contests.
  
  Musth-crazed bulls venting their anger on other elephants isn't the only case of societal aggression in the enormous pachyderms. Elephant society is matriarchal, and cows in a given herd may actively drive out young bulls reaching sexual maturity and becoming rowdy. Males test one another physically from an early age, and may engage in dominance battles of varying intensity as adults.
Aggressive Behavior
- An African bush elephant charging may flare its ears, raise its trunk and bellow.
  
  Two bulls of similar size squaring off may gently lock tusks at the onset to gauge each other's strength and dimensions, attempting to highlight their tusk length, size and power. An elephant looking to convince another of its authority will raise its head and stiffen its ears, then toss or shake its head with slapping ears. Richard D. Estes, writing in "The Behavior Guide to African Mammals," defines a threat display called a "forward-trunk-swish," wherein the elephant will coil its trunk and then unreel it in the direction of the other bull, frequently trumpeting in the process. Elephants charging a perceived predator may surge forward with ears entirely flared and trunk raised.

Animals & Science