ArticleCommunications biology2022
Social support correlates with glucocorticoid concentrations in wild African elephant orphans.
Article in Communications biology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Knowledge transmission, culture and the consequences of social disruption in wild elephants.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Pooled it
- Article
- Article
- Monitoring the stress physiology of free-ranging mugger crocodiles (Conservation physiology · 2024Article
- Adrenal and metabolic hormones demonstrate risk-reward trade-offs for African elephants foraging in human-dominated landscapes.Conservation physiology · 2024Article
- Early life adversities and lifelong health outcomes: A review of the literature on large, social, long-lived nonhuman mammals.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2023Review
- Physiological plasticity in elephants: highly dynamic glucocorticoids in African and Asian elephants.Conservation physiology · 2023Article
- Orphaning stunts growth in wild African elephants.Conservation physiology · 2022Article
- The formal demography of kinship V: Kin loss, bereavement, and causes of death.Demographic researchArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Social relationships have physiological impacts. Here, we investigate whether loss of the mother/offspring relationship has lasting effects on fecal glucocorticoid metabolite (fGCM) concentrations in wild African elephant orphans several years following their mothers' deaths. We find no difference in fGCM concentrations between orphans and nonorphans, but find lower fGCM concentrations in elephants with more age mates in their family. We also unexpectedly identify lower concentrations in orphans without their natal family versus nonorphans and natal orphans, which we speculate may be due to the development of hypocortisolism following a prolonged period without familial support. An index of plant productivity (i.e. food) shows the largest correlation with fGCM concentrations. Our findings indicate no lasting differences in glucocorticoid concentrations of surviving orphan elephants who are with their family, suggest the presence of age mates may reduce glucocorticoid concentrations in elephants, and emphasize that basic survival needs are the primary regulators of the stress response.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.