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Growth in the Asian elephant - Proceedings: Animal Sciences

  • ️Krishnamurthy, V
  • ️Tue Nov 01 1988

Abstract

Records of captive Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) were used to derive parameters of the von Bertalanffy function for growth in height, body weight and circumference of tusks with age. There was some evidence for a post-pubertal secondary growth spurt in both male and female elephants. Domestic elephants which were born in captivity or captured at a young age also showed a reduced growth in height in both the sexes and in body weight in males compared to wild elephants. Aspects of allometric growth such as height-body weight relationship are examined. The height was twice the circumference of front foot throughout the life span, indicating an isometric relationship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, 560 012, Bangalore, India

    R Sukumar & N V Joshi

  2. Bombay Natural History Society, Shahid Bhagat Singh Road, 400 023, Bombay, India

    V Krishnamurthy

Authors

  1. R Sukumar

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  2. N V Joshi

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  3. V Krishnamurthy

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Sukumar, R., Joshi, N.V. & Krishnamurthy, V. Growth in the Asian elephant. Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. (Anim. Sci.) 97, 561–571 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03179558

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  • Received: 06 September 1988

  • Revised: 17 October 1988

  • Issue Date: November 1988

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03179558

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