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Feb

11

2007
 
 

Boys and Girls



Elephants

El Niño is good for elephant reproduction, La Niña is not While most animals can tune their reproduction around the changing seasons, African elephants Loxodonta africana have to think longer term. Twenty-two months’ gestation followed by two years of suckling force a different timescale on females, and scientists now know its nature. According to a study published this week by George Wittemyer and his Save The Elephants colleagues, Kenyan elephants synchronize their breeding by the ebb and flow of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). El Niño brings abundant plant growth to the region, kickstarting a jumbo baby boom. La Niña, on the other hand, rather trunk-ates the fun. Source: Wittemyer, G, Rasmussen, HB & Douglas-Hamilton, I (2007) Breeding phenology in relation to NDVI variability in free-ranging African elephant. Ecography DOI: 10.1111/j.2006.0906-7590.04900.x Image © David J. Kleinsasser

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