Shared Traits

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Every year, sexually mature male elephants experience a three-month period marked by increased aggression and restlessness.

Known as “musth,” African and Asian elephants during this time produce more testosterone, as well as thick, gooey secretions from ducts on their temples.

Now, a new study has found that the elephant’s woolly mammoth ancestors also went through a similar seasonal change, New Scientist reported.

To determine this, a research team studied the tusk of two woolly mammoths – one male and one female – from different time periods: The male lived about 35,000 years ago and the female about 5,500 years ago.

The team analyzed the testosterone found in the prehistoric remains and compared them with hormone levels found in the tusks of a male African elephant.

During musth, testosterone levels in elephants reached a peak that was 20 times higher than the rest of the year. Likewise, male mammoths exhibited similar fluctuations in testosterone, with levels spiking up to 10 times higher than their baseline. However, the female mammoths displayed minimal variation in their testosterone levels.

Scientists don’t completely understand the relationship between the hormonal changes and changes in the behavior of elephants or their ancestors.

However, aside from hormonal levels, lead author Michael Cherney explained that the method they used to discover the shared trait can also be useful in documenting many aspects of the lives of mammoths and other extinct animals.

“We anticipate being able to identify pregnancies, maturation ages, stress events, and other things that could be used to improve our understanding of mammoth and mastodon palaeobiology,” he said.