Predicting Teddy the elephant's rage
There are a lot of thing in Jerusalem named for recently deceased mayor Teddy Kollek. The stadium in Malcha, a species of tulip, a hall at the Jerusalem International Convention Center (Binyanei Hauma), a brand new park and an elephant at the Tisch Family Zoological Gardens in Jerusalem (the Biblical Zoo). But only one of these things is being studied for its behavior during mating season (hint: it's not the stadium).
Teddy, the 12 year old Asiatic elephant star of the zoo, is the only adult male among four females, (though he has his own bachelor pad and doesn't interact with them too much). To study how Teddy's annual hormone burst or, musth, affects his behavior and movements, researchers have attached a device to his leg tracking his movement. By studying his actions, researchers are hoping they will be able to predict when it's elephant business time.
And by business we mean both mating and goring. The onset of musth in male elephants is known to be the most dangerous period to be around them, as they develop extremely aggressive behavior that puts both humans, and other animals around them, in peril, even other elephants.
Many farmers already use similar technology, from the Israeli milk technology company S.A.E. Afikim, to help them figure out when the best time for them to mate is, to increase their herds. When it comes to elephants, though, the technology serves a wholly different purpose: knowing when musth is coming on can help protect everyone around them.
This is the first time the technology is being used on an elephant, and the results of the research may be applied to other elephants that terrorize populations in Thailand, India and other pachyderm hot spots.
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