Fact-checked by Grok 2 weeks ago

Musth

Musth is a recurrent physiological and behavioral state in adult male elephants, marked by surges in androgen levels, particularly testosterone, that drive heightened aggression, sexual motivation, and roaming tendencies.^[1]^[2] This condition, observed in both Asian (Elephas maximus) and African (Loxodonta africana) species, typically begins sporadically around puberty but becomes more regular and prolonged after age 30–35, occurring annually or biannually in an asynchronous manner among individuals.^[3]^[1] During musth, testosterone concentrations can rise dramatically—often exceeding baseline levels by factors of 10 to 60—correlating with physical indicators such as bilateral temporal gland secretions, which may drip profusely, and involuntary urine dribbling from a relaxed penis.^[4]^[2] Behavioral shifts include increased unpredictability, challenges to other males for dominance, and enhanced mate-seeking, positioning musth as a mechanism tied to reproductive competition and sexual selection.^[5]^[6] Episodes vary in duration from days in younger males to weeks or months in older, larger individuals, with length influenced by factors like body condition and social exposure.^[3]^[7] The phenomenon underscores the role of hormonal surges in elephant reproductive biology, where musth males often outcompete non-musth rivals for access to females, though it also elevates risks of injury from intraspecific conflicts.^[8]^[9] Empirical studies confirm these dynamics through longitudinal hormone assays and behavioral observations, revealing musth's adaptive value despite its costs in energy expenditure and vulnerability.^[1]^[10]

Etymology and Historical Recognition

Linguistic Origins

The term musth derives from the Urdu mast, signifying "intoxicated" or "in a state of drunken frenzy," borrowed directly from the Persian mast with identical connotations of intoxication or rapture.^[11]^[12] This linguistic root aptly captures the heightened, erratic demeanor of bull elephants during the condition, as noted in early South Asian descriptions of the phenomenon.^[13] The word entered English usage in the mid-to-late 19th century, with the earliest recorded attestation in 1878, primarily through British colonial accounts of Asian elephant management in India.^[11] These observers adopted the local term to describe periodic episodes of aggression and secretion, distinguishing it from broader concepts like general rut or unrelated states of agitation in working elephants.^[14] While musth shares conceptual parallels with the ancient Sanskrit mada, denoting "intoxication," "exhilaration," or "pride"—a term applied to elephant frenzy in classical Indian texts—the modern designation traces etymologically to Persian and Urdu rather than directly to Sanskrit roots.^[15] This avoids conflation with mada's wider applications in Hindu mythology and pharmacology, where it encompasses non-elephantine states of excess or delusion.^[16]

Early Observations

The phenomenon of musth was first systematically documented in ancient Indian texts dating to around 1000–500 BCE, coinciding with the development of war elephants, where male aggression during this state was prized for battle and sometimes artificially induced using wine, martial music, or fireworks.^[15] The Sanskrit treatise Matangalila by Nilakantha detailed seven progressive stages: temple swelling, flow of musth fluid from temporal glands, dribbling urine, emission of a pungent scent, directed fury toward rivals, peak rage surpassing normal limits, and eventual return to composure, based on empirical observations of captive and wild bulls.^[17] These accounts emphasized musth's periodic recurrence in post-pubertal males, portraying it as a sign of robust health and vigor rather than indiscriminate madness or disease, with visual conventions in poetry and art depicting war elephants via black streaks of temporal secretion to signify the state.^[18] Historical differentiation from injury or illness stemmed from its predictable cyclicity in healthy individuals, absent in females or juveniles, and its utility in combat without debilitating the animal long-term, as noted in gaja-shastra (elephant lore) traditions that tracked patterns across multiple cycles for management in royal stables and armies.^[15] British colonial records from the late 18th century, such as those by East India Company surgeon John Corse in 1799, corroborated these patterns through firsthand observations of Asiatic elephants in captivity, describing episodes of "rut-madness" involving temporal secretions, heightened aggression, and behavioral shifts tied to reproductive maturity, distinct from sporadic violence due to wounds or sickness.^[19] Corse's accounts, drawn from working elephants in Bengal, highlighted the state's recurrence every few years in mature bulls, aligning with Indian empirical logs while attributing it to innate physiological drives rather than external pathology.

Biological Foundations

Hormonal and Physiological Mechanisms

Musth involves a pronounced surge in androgen hormones, particularly testosterone and dihydrotestosterone (DHT), originating primarily from gonadal secretions. Serum testosterone levels in male elephants can increase dramatically during musth, with studies reporting elevations of 20- to 60-fold compared to non-musth baselines, as measured through plasma assays.^[20] ^[21] Similarly, DHT concentrations rise substantially, up to 12-fold, contributing to the physiological state associated with heightened reproductive physiology.^[20] These androgen peaks are temporally aligned with the onset and duration of musth, as evidenced by longitudinal monitoring of free-ranging and captive elephants via fecal and serum metabolite analyses.^[2] ^[1] Adrenal gland activity also modulates musth, with variations in cortisol levels observed across studies; glucocorticoid metabolites may decrease in some cases, potentially alleviating stress responses amid elevated androgens.^[22] This interplay between gonadal and adrenal secretions underscores the multifaceted endocrine cascade driving musth, where testosterone dominance overrides typical homeostatic balances. Temporal gland hypertrophy accompanies these hormonal shifts, leading to profuse secretion of viscous fluid rich in volatile compounds, including short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) such as acetic and hexanoic acids, derived from microbial fermentation processes.^[23] ^[24] These secretions, analyzed via gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, exhibit increased ketone and alcohol profiles as musth progresses, reflecting biochemical alterations tied to androgen influence.^[25] Metabolic adjustments during musth include reduced appetite and thirst, reallocating energy toward physiological demands of the state, as documented in behavioral and endocrine observations corroborated by blood and urine profiling.^[26] ^[27] These shifts, while not fully elucidated at the metabolite level, align with androgen-induced changes in feeding motivation, evidenced by lower voluntary food intake during peak musth phases in monitored elephants.^[27]

Triggers and Cyclical Patterns

Musth episodes in male elephants generally commence in sexually mature bulls exceeding 20-30 years of age, occurring on an annual or biennial basis and persisting for durations ranging from 1 to 3 months, with frequency and intensity modulated by factors such as individual health status, nutritional condition, and position within the social hierarchy.^[1] ^[28] Dominant bulls exhibit more prolonged and recurrent musth periods compared to subordinates, as higher-ranking individuals allocate greater energetic resources to reproductive competition, supported by longitudinal fecal steroid analyses revealing correlated elevations in androgen metabolites with social rank.^[29] Health events, including injuries or illnesses, can suppress or abbreviate cycles, as evidenced by adrenal cortisol spikes disrupting testosterone surges in monitored captive Asian elephants over 9-22 years.^[1] Empirical observations indicate that musth is not solely driven by an endogenous oscillator but responds to exogenous cues, including seasonal environmental shifts and conspecific interactions. In Asian elephants, musth incidence peaks during monsoon seasons, when enhanced forage availability supports elevated metabolic demands for hormonal escalation, as documented in semi-captive populations where conceptions align with post-monsoon breeding windows.^[30] Proximity to females in estrus or competitive encounters with rival bulls precipitates androgen surges, with non-invasive fecal monitoring in free-ranging Asian elephants showing rapid testosterone metabolite increases following such social stimuli, underscoring a causal link between external reproductive opportunities and cycle initiation.^[2] ^[31] Cyclical progression unfolds in discernible phases: a pre-musth buildup characterized by gradual testosterone elevation over weeks, often preceding overt signs; a peak phase of sustained hyperandrogenemia coinciding with intensified reproductive drive; and a resolution phase marked by hormonal decline, typically resolving without abrupt termination unless interrupted by dominance challenges or resource scarcity.^[1] These stages have been delineated through multi-year tracking of serum and fecal hormones in both wild and captive settings, revealing asynchronous timing across individuals that synchronizes loosely with population-level breeding peaks rather than a rigid internal clock.^[28] ^[29] In African elephants, similar patterns emerge, though cycles may extend longer in older bulls, with adrenal responses to social stressors amplifying variability.^[7]

Manifestations in Elephants

Physical Indicators

Male elephants in musth display prominent secretion from the temporal glands, located on the sides of the head between the eye and ear, consisting of a thick, dark, tar-like, oily fluid known as temporin that drips down the cheeks.^[32]^[33] The glands themselves often enlarge and swell during this period, contributing to a visibly distended appearance in the temporal region.^[34]^[35] A hallmark physical sign is the continuous dribbling of urine from the prepuce, which produces a distinctive trail and wet appearance on the hind legs and ground, persisting even when the elephant is not urinating volitionally.^[22]^[36] Analysis of musth urine reveals elevated concentrations of ketones, alcohols, substituted cyclohexenones, and aromatic compounds compared to non-musth samples.^[37]^[38] Additional observable changes include a greenish discoloration of the penis sheath and an overall increase in body odor due to pheromonal emissions from the secretions.^[22] Musth periods are associated with weight loss in males, attributed to decreased feeding and heightened metabolic demands, as documented in field observations of free-ranging African elephants.^[39] These indicators are reliably scored in veterinary assessments, with temporal gland secretion and urine dribbling rated on scales from absent to profuse to gauge musth intensity.^[10]

Behavioral Alterations

During musth, bull elephants display markedly elevated aggression directed primarily at rival males, manifesting in intraspecific combat such as tusking, pushing, and charging to assert dominance and secure mating access.^[7]^[40] This aggressive state is signaled through unbluffable cues, including specific low-frequency vocalizations known as musth rumbles, which announce heightened readiness for confrontation and deter non-musth competitors.^[41]^[42] Musth bulls exhibit increased roaming behavior, covering greater distances in search of estrous females, as evidenced by GPS telemetry data from tracked African elephants showing expanded home ranges and directed movements during this phase.^[43] These patterns often lead to heightened human-elephant conflict, with musth individuals more likely to approach settlements or crops due to their driven, erratic locomotion and reduced inhibition toward perceived threats.^[44] Reproductively, musth enhances mating success, with genetic paternity analyses from long-term studies in Amboseli National Park revealing that bulls in musth, particularly those over 35 years old, sire a disproportionate share of calves compared to non-musth males of similar age.^[45]^[46] Observations confirm that most copulations involve musth bulls employing dominance displays to displace rivals and court females preferentially.^[45]^[9]

Comparative Aspects

Differences Between Asian and African Elephants

Musth manifests similarly in both Elephas maximus (Asian) and Loxodonta africana (African) elephants through elevated androgen levels, temporal gland secretions, urine dribbling, and heightened aggression, serving as a signal for reproductive competition.^[29] Cross-species assays confirm shared physiological mechanisms, including testosterone surges exceeding baseline by 50-140 times during peak phases.^[7] However, empirical data reveal divergences in cyclicity, duration, and ecological correlates shaped by habitat differences—forested, monsoon-driven ranges for Asian elephants versus open savannas for African ones. In Asian elephants, musth cycles are shorter and more seasonally predictable, averaging 92 days per confirmed episode (range: 22–210 days), with peaks often aligned to post-monsoon periods such as January and August in regions like Kerala, India.^[29] ^[47] This temporal patterning correlates with resource availability following heavy rains, potentially optimizing mating opportunities amid denser vegetation and smaller herd sizes. Tuskless males (maknas, comprising up to 30% of Asian bull populations in some areas) exhibit musth at comparable or elevated frequencies to tusked counterparts, compensating for reduced weaponry in dominance contests via intensified hormonal signaling and behavioral displays.^[48] ^[26] Aggression during Asian musth tends to be less protracted, influenced by social suppression in proximity to conspecific males and better body condition shortening episode length.^[29] African elephants display longer musth durations, particularly in prime-age and older bulls, where episodes can extend beyond 3 months and show greater variance tied to age and dominance hierarchies within larger, more fluid savanna groups.^[8] Frequencies peak more consistently in mature males, with asynchronous onset but stronger age-related escalation, reflecting savanna ecology's emphasis on long-distance movements and inter-male rivalries over vast, resource-variable landscapes.^[29] Near-universal tusks in African males amplify musth's role in escalated physical confrontations, contrasting Asian dynamics where tusklessness necessitates alternative signaling strategies. These species-specific patterns underscore how environmental pressures—seasonal flooding versus arid seasonality—causally modulate musth's timing and intensity, despite conserved endocrinology.^[30]

Evolutionary Significance

Musth functions as an honest signal of male fitness in elephants, enabling dominance over non-musth rivals and preferential access to estrous females, thereby elevating reproductive success.^[49] In wild African elephant populations, paternity analyses indicate that males in musth sire the majority of calves, with non-musth males accounting for only 20-25% of paternities despite their numerical prevalence; musth status confers a substantial advantage, as non-musth males secure minimal reproductive output during equivalent periods.^[50] ^[51] This disparity arises because musth synchronizes peak testosterone levels—often surging 40-60 times baseline—with heightened mobility and aggression, allowing bulls to outcompete others in mate guarding and consortships, particularly for older males over 35 years where success rates peak.^[51] ^[52] The adaptive value manifests in cost-benefit trade-offs, where musth's energetic demands and risks are offset by amplified lifetime reproductive returns. Bulls in musth reduce feeding time by up to 50% and incur elevated injury risks from escalated combats, yet these costs facilitate rapid resolution of dominance hierarchies via chemical and auditory cues, often averting prolonged physical fights that could otherwise prove fatal.^[7] ^[49] Long-term demographic tracking reveals that musth males, especially mature ones, achieve 4-6 times higher annual calf production rates compared to younger or non-musth counterparts, underscoring net fitness gains that sustain the trait under sexual selection.^[45] ^[51] Musth's persistence across Elephantidae genera, including both Asian and African species, despite anthropogenic pressures like habitat fragmentation, evidences robust selective pressure favoring its retention as a core mating strategy rather than a pathological "madness."^[49] Genetic and observational data from isolated populations confirm no diminishment in prevalence, with musth-linked behaviors correlating positively with gene propagation in surviving lineages, indicating evolutionary entrenchment over millennia without signs of maladaptation.^[53] This conservation implies that benefits in paternity share—evident in bulls fathering disproportionately more offspring during musth episodes—overwhelm costs, reinforcing musth as a driver of sexual dimorphism and delayed male maturation in proboscideans.^[51]

Management Strategies

Captive Elephant Husbandry

In zoos and sanctuaries, musth in male elephants necessitates protocols prioritizing human safety and animal welfare, typically involving isolation of affected bulls into secure, solitary enclosures equipped with environmental enrichments such as puzzle feeders, substrate variations, and visual barriers to reduce aggression and pacing behaviors.^[54]^[21] These measures address the heightened unpredictability of musth onset in confined spaces, where space limitations can exacerbate temporal gland secretions and urine dribbling, as documented in surveys of North American captive males showing musth durations averaging 1-3 months with variable intensity.^[55]^[10] Non-invasive monitoring of hormone levels via fecal or urinary samples enables early prediction of musth, with studies confirming elevations in testosterone metabolites up to 200-fold prior to overt signs, allowing proactive adjustments like enhanced surveillance or temporary separation.^[21]^[56] In cases of severe aggression, pharmacological suppression has been applied, such as gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) vaccines or leuprolide acetate implants, which reduced serum testosterone by significant margins in treated Asian elephant bulls over periods exceeding 34 months, though long-term efficacy requires veterinary oversight to avoid welfare compromises.^[57]^[58] Post-2020 research emphasizes adaptive socialization strategies, revealing that controlled, supervised interactions among bulls—facilitated by age-matched pairings and musth-status monitoring—can diminish stereotypic behaviors like head-bobbing and pacing by up to 50% in zoo settings, supporting stress reduction without increasing injury risks when managed per institutional guidelines.^[59]^[60] Surveys of Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) facilities indicate growing adoption of such approaches, with variation in practices but consensus on integrating social opportunities to mimic natural bull networks, provided enclosures allow safe partitioning during peak musth phases.^[60]^[61] These strategies contrast earlier solitary confinements, informed by longitudinal behavioral data showing improved welfare outcomes in multi-bull groups.^[62]

Wild Population Considerations and Conservation

In wild elephant populations, musth exacerbates human-elephant conflicts through the aggressive dispersal and raiding behaviors of affected bulls, which roam widely in search of mates and resources. These episodes correlate with heightened incidences of crop destruction and human fatalities, as musth males display unpredictable aggression toward settlements and vehicles. In India, such conflicts annually damage around 1 million hectares of crops and contribute to approximately 400 human deaths, with documented cases attributing attacks to musth-induced states.^[63] In African savannas, similar patterns emerge, including direct assaults by musth bulls on human infrastructure, amplifying local retaliatory killings.^[64] Poaching intensifies during musth due to the conspicuous temporal gland secretions and bold movements of large-tusked bulls, rendering them prime targets for ivory traffickers. Selective removal of these mature males—often over 30 years old—results in female-biased adult sex ratios, such as 2.5:1 observed in Zambia's Luangwa Valley populations affected by historical poaching.^[65] This demographic skew disrupts social structures, as dominant bulls normally suppress musth in subordinates, leading to elevated aggression and reproductive instability in remnant groups.^[66] IUCN evaluations underscore how such losses impair overall population viability, with older males' absence correlating to poorer calf survival and increased vulnerability to further human conflicts.^[67] Conservation strategies emphasize habitat linkages to accommodate musth-driven migrations, including the delineation of wildlife corridors that span fragmented landscapes and reduce encroachment on human areas. These pathways enable bulls to traverse up to hundreds of kilometers during peak musth without funneling them into high-conflict zones.^[43] Integrated approaches, such as fortified anti-poaching units active during predictable musth seasons and community-based monitoring of bull movements, aim to preserve genetic diversity and balance sex ratios.^[68] By prioritizing protection of mature tuskers, these measures mitigate the cycle of conflict and depletion, supporting long-term population resilience as outlined in regional assessments.^[69]

Scientific Research

Key Historical Studies

In the late 1970s, Joyce Poole's fieldwork at Amboseli National Park in Kenya, beginning in 1975 as part of the Amboseli Elephant Research Project, provided the first systematic documentation of musth in African elephants (Loxodonta africana), a phenomenon previously considered exclusive to Asian elephants. Through long-term behavioral observations of individually identified bulls, Poole identified musth as a periodic state marked by heightened aggression, increased sexual activity, and physical signs such as temporal gland secretion and urine dribbling, occurring annually in mature males regardless of female estrus cycles.^[70] Her 1981 publication in Nature formalized these findings, challenging earlier assumptions and establishing musth as a natural reproductive phase rather than sporadic pathology.^[70] Building on these observations, Poole's subsequent analyses in the early 1980s linked musth to elevated androgen levels. Urinary testosterone concentrations, measured via radioimmunoassay in samples from Amboseli bulls, were significantly higher—up to several times baseline—during behavioral musth compared to non-musth periods, correlating directly with aggression intensity and duration.^[71] This endocrine correlation, derived from non-invasive field collections, refuted notions of musth as mere "madness" or disease, instead framing it as a hormonally driven dominance signal, with peaks aligning to age and social rank.^[72] These studies set empirical benchmarks for musth periodicity, typically 1–3 months per year in prime bulls over 25 years old. In the 1990s, Raman Sukumar's ecological research on Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in southern India extended these insights by integrating musth cycles with environmental variables. Long-term monitoring in Nilgiri forests revealed musth timing correlated with seasonal rainfall and forage quality, with peaks during post-monsoon abundance enabling energy-intensive behaviors, rather than uniform annual recurrence.^[73] Biochemical assays from captive and wild samples during this period further debunked disease hypotheses, showing no pathological markers but consistent androgen surges akin to African patterns, underscoring musth's adaptive role in male competition amid resource fluctuations.^[74] Pre-2000 syntheses combined these field and endocrine data, as in reviews of Amboseli and Indian datasets, confirming testosterone as the primary causal driver of musth aggression across species, with field validations of radioimmunoassay results providing causal benchmarks for reproductive success metrics like mating priority in musth males.^[75] These foundational works emphasized undiluted physiological mechanisms over anecdotal pathology claims, prioritizing observable hormone-behavior links from verified wild populations.

Recent Developments and Findings

A 2022 longitudinal analysis of four captive male Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), aged 12–54 years and monitored over 9–22 years, documented annual musth cycles with individual variations in timing and duration, alongside declining testosterone levels with advancing age in sexually mature bulls. Cortisol concentrations positively covaried with both testosterone and musth status, exhibiting age-related increases, particularly pronounced during musth in older individuals; generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) predicted these hormonal shifts, incorporating factors like health events (e.g., elevated cortisol during Mycobacterium tuberculosis treatment) while revealing minimal short-term adrenal responses to social alterations.^[1] Semen quality assessments from 2018–2022, involving 152 samples and paired serum from four Asian elephants aged 8–47 years, identified significant positive correlations between testosterone levels and sperm motility in three bulls, with motility substantially elevated during musth in one case and trending higher in others as musth progressed. These findings mark the first empirical linkage between musth-induced testosterone surges and improved gamete viability, contrasting prior assumptions of uniform reproductive enhancement.^[76] A 2025 study on free-ranging African elephants (Loxodonta africana) established male-specific metabolic baselines—glucose at 94 ± 3 mg/dL, insulin at 0.47 ± 0.05 ng/mL, and a glucose-to-insulin ratio predictive of testosterone—while noting testosterone peaks during rainy seasons (16.2 ± 6.04 ng/mL versus 2.03 ± 0.33 ng/mL in dry seasons), implying monsoon-linked musth intensification tied to resource availability. Concurrently, glucocorticoid elevations during musth, observed across captive and wild contexts via fecal and serum assays, have informed GLMM-based predictive frameworks integrating social exposure and environmental stressors to forecast onset.^[77]^[1] GPS telemetry from 25 male elephants (ages 20–52), processed through three-state hidden Markov models, achieved 90% accuracy in detecting musth via movement signatures—daily speeds up to 1.99 times baseline and ranges 3.47 times larger in 50-year-olds—disclosing age-dependent adaptive strategies, such as energy reallocation toward mate-searching in mature bulls, independent of visual musth indicators.^[43]

Cultural Depictions

In Historical Accounts and Folklore

In ancient Indian textual traditions, musth was systematically described with empirical precision predating modern science. The Mātaṅga-līlā, a Sanskrit treatise on elephants attributed to Nīlakaṇṭha (circa 15th century CE, though drawing on earlier oral and written lore), outlines musth in seven stages: initial swelling of the temples, secretion of oily fluid from temporal glands, dribbling of urine, emission of a pungent odor, onset of fury, escalation to uncontrollable rage, and gradual return to normalcy.^[15] These observations capture verifiable physiological markers, such as gland secretion and behavioral escalation, aligning closely with causal mechanisms later confirmed through hormonal analysis, rather than attributing the state to random insanity. Mahout practices, transmitted through family lineages dating back millennia, emphasized practical containment: musth bulls were chained by fore and hind legs to sturdy trees or pillars, often with restricted food and water to hasten subsidence, reflecting an understanding of the condition's temporary, cyclical nature tied to reproductive drives rather than perpetual volatility.^[78]^[15] In warfare contexts from the Vedic period onward (circa 1500–500 BCE), musth's aggression was valorized and sometimes artificially induced using wine, martial drums, or fireworks to enhance bull elephants' ferocity in battle, as noted in elephantological texts like the Hastyāyurveda attributed to Pālakaṗya.^[15] This selective harnessing underscores accurate recognition of musth as a dominance-linked phase amenable to management, contrasting with exaggerated folklore portrayals of "divine intoxication" where rampaging bulls symbolize unchecked cosmic power or godly frenzy, as in Hindu myths equating the state to ritual ecstasy or possession by deities like Indra.^[79] Such mythic elements, while embedding observable traits like fluid-streaked temples in artistic conventions (e.g., black streaks in temple carvings and poetry), often amplified the phenomenon into supernatural inevitability, diverging from the grounded, pattern-based mahout strategies that prioritized causal intervention over fatalistic awe. Colonial-era records from the 1800s, including British East India Company logs and Burmese timber operations, reframed musth primarily as "fury" or "madness" posing acute risks to labor-dependent elephant handling, with incidents of bulls killing mahouts or disrupting teak extraction prompting stricter isolation and chaining protocols that influenced early conservation policies.^[80]^[81] These accounts, while highlighting real dangers, sometimes overstated unpredictability by downplaying indigenous periodic-management knowledge, yet corroborated pre-colonial observations of heightened aggression without endorsing unsubstantiated claims of inherent savagery. Empirical consistencies across eras—such as secretion and territoriality—affirm musth's biological periodicity over folklore's divine or capricious interpretations, privileging handler records that enabled survival amid the state rather than mythic embellishments lacking causal evidence.

Modern Media and Public Perception

In the 2010s and beyond, documentaries produced by outlets like BBC Earth and National Geographic have depicted musth as a hormonally driven state marked by aggression and temporal gland secretions, often framing it within the context of male elephants' reproductive strategies and social hierarchies. For example, BBC Earth's 2020s content describes musth in young males as a surge of reproductive hormones occurring in their twenties, linking it to the need for dominant father figures to guide behavior and prevent excessive risk-taking.^[82] National Geographic's video segments from 2018 illustrate musth-induced fights between bulls, attributing the elevated testosterone to competitive mating displays rather than inherent madness.^[83] These portrayals balance visual drama with explanatory narration, countering pure sensationalism by emphasizing musth's evolutionary role in mate selection and dominance establishment. Public perception, however, frequently amplifies misconceptions of musth bulls as perpetually "rogue" or pathologically violent, a narrative rooted in colonial-era hunting tales that conflate periodic hormonal peaks with rogue insanity. Accounts from Indian forests, such as the 2024 coverage of a 20-year-old male dubbed "Mountain" for crop-raiding incidents, portray such elephants as aberrant threats, fueling demands for culling without noting musth's predictable timing and biological triggers.^[84] This framing persists in social media and news, where sensational reports of human-elephant clashes spread rapidly, demonizing animals and overlooking data showing musth aggression as transient and territory-linked rather than random malice.^[85] Despite these distortions, musth coverage in media has supported conservation awareness by highlighting the need for expansive habitats to accommodate bulls' seasonal wanderings and reduce conflict. Initiatives like AI monitoring systems in India, publicized in 2025 reports, use musth vocalizations for early warnings, shifting perception from fear to proactive management and underscoring habitat loss as the root cause of encounters.^[85] In literature and film, musth appears sporadically in wildlife nonfiction like safari memoirs, where it is presented biologically accurate as a testosterone-fueled imperative, contrasting with anthropomorphic fiction that dramatizes elephants as vengeful rogues, prompting empirical critiques from conservationists to prioritize adaptive realism over narrative exaggeration.^[86]

References

[1]
Characterization of Longitudinal Testosterone, Cortisol, and Musth ...
May 23, 2022 · Male elephants experience a biological phenomenon called “musth”, which is characterized by increased testosterone production, temporal gland ...
[2]
Endocrine Correlates of Musth in Free-Ranging Asian Elephants ...
The occurrence of musth, a period of elevated levels of androgens and heightened sexual activity, has been well documented for the male Asian elephant ...Missing: explanation | Show results with:explanation
[3]
Hormonal variation and temporal dynamics of musth in Asian ...
Apr 25, 2023 · In male Asian elephants, elevated androgen fluctuations may occur around puberty that are distinct from fully mature musth episodes (Rasmussen ...
[4]
Testosterone secretion, musth behaviour and social dominance in ...
Testosterone concentrations were measured in blood samples collected weekly over a 5 year period from six adult (19-40 year old) male Asian elephants ...
[5]
[PDF] Behavioral characterization of musth in Asian elephants ( Elephas ...
Musth is a heightened sexual state in male elephants (including the African species, Loxodonta. 87 africana and L. cyclotis) that serves to announce breeding ...
[6]
Tusks, testosterone and personality in male Asian elephants ...
Aug 27, 2025 · If male personality outside musth is directly driven by their testosterone concentration, and if long-tusk males have lower testosterone ...
[7]
Physical, Physiological, and Behavioral Correlates of Musth in ...
The length of musth periods was highly variable but according to our data set not related to age. Our data also confirm that musth is associated with elevated ...
[8]
Musth and its effects on male–male and male–female associations ...
Dec 5, 2019 · Musth is an annual, asynchronous, rut-like phenomenon observed in male elephants. We examined whether musth is a roving strategy, and whether ...Missing: explanation | Show results with:explanation
[9]
(PDF) Musth and sexual selection in elephants: a review of ...
In this review, we synthesise existing evidence that supports the hypothesis that musth is a multimodal signal subject to sexual selection and that male ...<|separator|>
[10]
Physical and behavioral indicators associated with hormonal ...
Each zoo elephant was observed twice for five days: once when the elephant was in musth (i.e., exhibiting visual signs or behavior characteristic of an ...
[11]
MUSTH Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
Etymology. Hindi & Urdu mast intoxicated, from Persian ; First Known Use. 1878, in the meaning defined above ; Time Traveler. The first known use of musth was in ...
[12]
musth, adj. & n. meanings, etymology and more
musth is of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from Urdu. Partly a borrowing from Persian. Etymons: Urdu mast; Persian mast.
[13]
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/musth
[15]
Mammoths in Musth | The India Forum
Oct 16, 2023 · “Musth” is of course the Hindi word mast, borrowed from Persian, meaning 'intoxicated', and answering to Sanskrit mada. It is the intoxication ...
[16]
Mada, Māḍa, Māda, Maḍā, Má dā, Ma da, Mǎ dá ... - Wisdom Library
Sep 19, 2025 · Mada (मद) refers to “elephant must” (i.e., intoxication, exhilaration), according to the 15th century Mātaṅgalīlā composed by Nīlakaṇṭha in 263 ...Missing: musth | Show results with:musth
[17]
[PDF] Mammoths in Musth - The India Forum
Oct 16, 2023 · Musth was a closely observed phenomenon, because use of war elephants had a long history, and because musth was highly valued for warfare. For ...
[18]
War elephants | Chicago Scholarship Online | Oxford Academic - DOI
In sum, the ancients took musth as a sign of health and vigor in a male elephant, and the concomitant surplus of aggression was thought valuable for warfare; ...2 War Elephants · Kings And Elephants · The Indus Civilization
[19]
Observations on the Manners, Habits, and Natural History, of the ...
Mar 15, 2013 · Observations on the Manners, Habits, and Natural History, of the Elephant. By John Corse, Esq. Communicated by the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, ...Missing: musth 1870s
[20]
Neuroendocrine-Associated Behavioral Patterns in the Male Asian ...
Testosterone levels rose during musth 26-fold compared to nonmusth, and DHT was elevated 12-fold in musth. Maximal aggressive behavior episodes occurred during ...
[21]
Musth cases in two captive male Asian elephants (Elephas maximus ...
Testosterone levels were low before and after musth, and when measured during musth, testosterone levels were nearly 200 times higher than before. The lowest ...
[22]
Endocrine Correlates of Musth in Free-Ranging Asian Elephants ...
Dec 17, 2013 · Sexual activity in mature male elephants is predominantly associated with the occurrence of musth [1–3], a phenomenon well documented in the ...
[23]
Chemical analysis of temporal gland secretions collected from an ...
The present study focuses on possible correlations between testosterone levels in the serum and temporal gland secretions.
[24]
Temporal gland secretion in African elephants (Loxodonta africana)
Aug 4, 2025 · Saturated and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), derived from key volatile compounds from bacterial fermentation, were identified in temporal, ...
[25]
Chemical signals of elephant musth: temporal aspects of microbially ...
Jan 13, 2012 · Levels of ketones and alcohols increased as the urine aged, likely due to microbial metabolism of fatty acids.
[26]
[PDF] Musth in Elephants
This is very significant and obvious in Asian male elephants during their musth period when their temporal glands secrete a fluid with a characteristic odor.Missing: John 1870s
[27]
Predictors of testosterone in zoo‐managed male African elephants ...
Sep 28, 2022 · Musth scores 5–8 had an average testosterone value almost double the average for Musth Scores 0–4 (85.7 ± 35.5 and 45.0 ± 21.3 ng/g FE, ...INTRODUCTION · MATERIALS AND METHODS · RESULTS · DISCUSSION
[28]
Characterization of Longitudinal Testosterone, Cortisol, and Musth ...
Mar 30, 2025 · This study characterized longitudinal patterns of circulating testosterone and cortisol in relation to musth in four adult Asian elephant bulls ...
[29]
Hormonal variation and temporal dynamics of musth in Asian ... - NIH
Historically, elephants in musth have not been directly managed for reproductive procedures (e.g. for semen collection), and musth males may behave ...
[30]
Testosterone variation in a semi-captive population of Asian ...
Nov 22, 2024 · Our results indicate that FTM concentration in the Asian elephant is a highly variable trait that responds to external and internal changes.
[31]
Musth and its effects on male–male and male–female associations ...
Aug 6, 2025 · ... Musth is a routine, asynchronous reproductive period in male elephants that is triggered by a surge in serum androgens and is often ...
[32]
Temporal gland secretion in African elephants (Loxodonta africana)
Male elephants in musth release a “sweet-smelling exudate” (frontalin) from the temporal glands that may signal the state of musth period (Rasmussen and ...
[33]
[PDF] Musth discovered in the African Elephant - Pachyderm
A male in musth secretes from the temporal glands, has a con- tinual discharge of urine, becomes very aggressive, and in cap- tivity is very difficult to handle ...
[34]
[PDF] Physiological and Environmental Factors which Influence Temporal ...
In addition, elephants were more likely to have long temporal gland secretions when in the presence of a bull elephant in musth and during the months of the ...
[35]
Musth of the elephant bulls - Upali.ch
Nov 9, 2016 · Musth is a word of Persian origin and is translated in the languages of Northern India by “condition of poisoning”.Missing: etymology | Show results with:etymology
[36]
Do male African elephants, Loxodonta africana, signal musth via ...
Urine chemistry during musth is altered, suggesting that urine may signal the musth status of the individual.
[37]
[PDF] Chemosignalling of musth by individual wild African elephants ...
The urine of wild musth males contained greater numbers of ketones, alcohols, and substituted cyclohexenones, than did the urine of non-musth males which ...
[38]
(PDF) Chemical Signals of Elephant Musth: Temporal Aspects of ...
Mar 19, 2025 · Saturated and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), derived from key volatile compounds from bacterial fermentation, were identified in temporal ...
[39]
Do male African elephants, Loxodonta africana, signal musth via ...
Aug 8, 2025 · The second prediction stems from the observation that males lose weight and presumably body condition during musth. We conducted two related ...
[40]
Physical, physiological, and behavioral correlates of musth in ...
Although musth in male African elephants (Loxodonta africana) is known to be associated with increased aggressiveness, urine dribbling (UD), temporal gland ...
[41]
Announcing intent: the aggressive state of musth in African elephants
During the period of musth, male elephants,Loxodonta africana, announce a state of heightened aggression with signals that are unbluffable.
[42]
Musth-Rumble - ETHOGRAM TABLE - ElephantVoices
The 'classic' Musth-Rumble is a long, low, pulsated, tonal call with considerable overlaying noise. Male elephants tend to Musth-Rumble in specific contexts ...Missing: intraspecific combat
[43]
Movement reveals reproductive tactics in male elephants - Taylor
Jun 24, 2019 · The distinctiveness of musth periods over age 35 meant the three-state HMM could automatically detect musth movement with high sensitivity and ...
[44]
If You Musth Know - Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance
Aug 15, 2019 · With elevated testosterone levels, those male elephants can be far more aggressive. In Sri Lanka, 70 humans and 235 elephants are dying annually ...
[45]
[PDF] Age, musth and paternity success in wild male African elephants ...
Jul 13, 2007 · Males in musth range more widely than nonmusth males, spending more time with female groups or alone and less time with other males (Hall- ...Missing: madness | Show results with:madness
[46]
[PDF] Age- and tactic-related paternity success in male African elephants
Oct 11, 2007 · Musth may not be the only reproductive tactic in elephants. After puberty (approximately 15 years) and before the onset of regular musth periods ...
[47]
[PDF] ANALYSIS OF MUSTH EPISODES IN CAPTIVE ASIAN ELEPHANTS )
Sep 9, 2000 · The number of elephants coming to musth showed peaks during January and August, which are the post monsoon periods in. Kerala. Key words. Asian ...Missing: seasonality | Show results with:seasonality
[48]
Everything You Need To Know About 'Musth'! - Wildlife SOS
Musth is a natural and healthy phenomenon in adult bull elephants. If a bull elephant goes into musth, it is generally considered a sign that he is healthy.Missing: etymology | Show results with:etymology
[49]
Musth and sexual selection in elephants: a review of signalling properties and potential fitness consequences
No readable text found in the HTML.<|separator|>
[50]
[PDF] Reproductive control of elephants
a 30-year study using faecal DNa microsatellites to determine paternity of calves born in amboseli showed that bulls 45 years and older sired 50 per cent of all ...<|separator|>
[51]
Age, musth and paternity success in wild male African elephants ...
Among males in musth, paternity success increased significantly with age until the very oldest age classes, when it modestly declined. When not in musth, males ...
[52]
What Is Elephant Musth? Key Facts You Need to Know
Aug 15, 2025 · Physical Changes: The most obvious sign is a continuous dribbling of urine and the secretion of a thick, dark, tar-like substance from the ...Missing: weight sensory acuity
[53]
Movement reveals reproductive tactics in male elephants - PMC - NIH
Jun 24, 2019 · Our results demonstrate that male elephants increased their daily mean speed and range size with age and in musth. Furthermore, non‐musth speed ...Missing: fold | Show results with:fold
[54]
Musth, and the Challenges of Caring for Bull Elephants - Wildlife SOS
Jan 11, 2020 · For this reason, bull elephants in captivity are generally kept in solitary living spaces requiring individual pools, fencing, shelters, ...
[55]
[PDF] A Survey of musth among captive male elephants in North America
Asian elephants experienced musth for shorter duration. (about 46 days) ... However, both Asian and African elephants exhibited musth with approximately ...
[56]
Faecal Testosterone Concentration in Sri Lankan Bull Elephants ...
Mar 13, 2025 · We evaluated the use of non-invasive faecal testosterone analysis to differen tiate between musth and non-musth in captive Asian elephants.
[57]
(PDF) Supression of testicular function in a male Asian elephant ...
Aug 9, 2025 · This is a case report of a male Asian elephant treated with two commercial GnRH vaccines (Equity and Improvac).Missing: pharmacology | Show results with:pharmacology
[58]
Control of Musth in an Asian Elephant Bull (Elephas maximus ... - jstor
The mean serum testosterone concentrations were significantly decreased by the last 34 mo of the study. The results suggest leuprolide is a suitable alternative ...Missing: diet | Show results with:diet
[59]
Impacts of Socialization on Bull Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus ...
In this study, we examine how being alone affects stereotypic behavior by monitoring pacing and head-bobbing in individual bull Asian elephants at Denver Zoo.Missing: post- | Show results with:post-
[60]
Male elephant management in AZA institutions - Wiley Online Library
May 2, 2024 · Our survey of male elephant management across AZA-accredited facilities revealed variation in practices related to musth, socialization, ...
[61]
Social Behavior and Group Formation in Male Asian Elephants ... - NIH
May 8, 2022 · Musth is a reproductive condition that occurs regularly but asynchronously among males [9,10], and it is initiated by a surge in serum androgens ...
[62]
Age and Social History Impact Social Interactions between Bull ...
Mar 1, 2023 · We examined the social interactions of five bull Asian elephants at Denver Zoo, using instantaneous sampling to compare social interactions across adolescent ...Missing: post- | Show results with:post-
[63]
Human-Wildlife Conflict: Global Policy and Perception Insights
Nov 9, 2023 · Human-elephant conflict in India is estimated at one million hectares of crops lost, 10,000-15,000 damaged properties, and around 400 human ...
[64]
First hand account of vehicle attack by raging musth bull
Feb 2, 2021 · We drove up within 100 meters of the fighting bulls and stopped under a small Acacia tortilis tree to observe the fight. Abe's right tusk was ...
[65]
Demographic changes in the Luangwa Valley elephants
Adult sex ratio favoured females by 2·5 to 1, which departs strikingly from the near-even sex ratio reported earlier. The possible relationship between a skewed ...
[66]
Reduced older male presence linked to increased rates of ...
Dec 22, 2021 · Mature bulls appear to have a role in inhibiting musth (sexually active state in male elephants, characterized by high rates of aggression [17]) ...
[67]
Importance of old bulls: leaders and followers in collective ... - Nature
Sep 3, 2020 · Exacerbating this, older bull elephants are overwhelmingly targeted in both illegal poaching activity and legal trophy hunting activity ...
[68]
Elephants in the farm – changing temporal and seasonal patterns of ...
Hence, delineating elephant migratory corridors through agricultural landscapes is essential to develop strategies to develop coexistence and reduce conflict ( ...<|control11|><|separator|>
[69]
Investigation of the effect of poaching on African elephant ...
For African elephants (Loxodonta africana), poaching has been shown to affect population numbers, structure, breeding system, behavior and activity patterns.
[70]
Musth in the African elephant, Loxodonta africana - Nature
Aug 27, 1981 · Here we show that musth does occur in the African elephant and that its manifestations are similar to those in the Asian elephant.Missing: differentiation madness
[71]
Musth and urinary testosterone concentrations in the African ...
Musth and urinary testosterone concentrations in the. African elephant (Loxodonta africana) Joyce H. Poole, L. H. Kasman, E. C. Ramsay and B. L. Lasley
[72]
(PDF) Musth and urinary testosterone in the African elephant ...
Testosterone concentrations, measured by radioimmunoassay were significantly greater in males that were in or around the time of behavioural musth. This study ...
[73]
The Asian Elephant: Ecology and Management - Google Books
This book provides an ecological analysis of elephant human interaction and its implications for the conservation of elephants.
[74]
(PDF) Ecology of the Asian elephant in southern India. I. Movement ...
Aug 9, 2025 · FEEDING habits and crop raiding patterns. February 1990 · Journal of Tropical Ecology. Raman Sukumar. The Asian elephant's ...
[75]
Musth discovered in the African elephant - Pachyderm
Apr 30, 1983 · A long term study started at the Amboseli in 1972 has served to show that each bull comes into musth for a period of time during the year. The ...Missing: 1980s | Show results with:1980s
[76]
Relationship between testosterone and sperm motility in Asian ...
Male elephants regularly undergo a unique sexual period of musth that is characterized by elevated testosterone, analogous to the heightened reproductive ...
[77]
Bridging the Gap: Using Wild African Elephant Metabolic ...
Jun 24, 2025 · This study is the first to establish baseline values for glucose, insulin, and leptin, and their potential relationships with reproductive and stress hormones.
[78]
CONTROL & MANAGEMENT OF CAPTIVE ELEPHANT DURING ...
Jul 14, 2019 · During musth, elephants have to be chained for long periods, until it becomes safe for mahouts to handle. Thus the elephant may develop chain ...
[79]
The Intoxicated Elephant - Devdutt Pattanaik
Aug 31, 2014 · The 'intoxicated' bull elephant is extremely dangerous, uncontrollable and is known to kill other male animals, even the female elephants, that are close by.
[80]
[PDF] THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S ELEPHANTS IN INDIA AND BRITAIN
52 John Corse, 'Observations on the manners, habits, and natural history of the elephant',. Philosophical Transactions (1799), pp. 44–5. 53 Ibid., p. 55. 54 ...Missing: musth | Show results with:musth
[81]
[PDF] Colonizing elephants: animal agency, undead capital and imperial ...
Apr 24, 2017 · In colonial Burma, elephants acquired reputations for good work, truculence or delinquency and were handled accordingly. There was a ...
[82]
Teenage elephants need a father figure | BBC Earth
Huge bull elephants were extremely difficult to transport, so young males, females and babies were introduced. As a result, there were no older bull elephants ...<|separator|>
[83]
Male elephants often fight as they enter 'Musth', a state of elevated ...
Jan 21, 2018 · Male elephants often fight as they enter 'Musth', a state of elevated testosterone. Watch more of elephants here:...<|separator|>
[84]
'Rogue elephant', 'Crocodile-infested', 'Tiger-haunted' - Down To Earth
Jan 31, 2024 · A 20-year-old male elephant became popular after incidents of interactions between him and people in Hassan, Karnataka. He was named Mountain.
[85]
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/ai-system-eavesdrops-on-elephants-to-prevent-deadly-encounters-in-india/
[86]
https://johnrieber.com/2025/10/23/know-what-an-elephant-in-musth-means-it-means-no-boat-ride-today-heres-our-wild-safari-encounter/