AD Hayward

AM Shrader

Aung Thura Soe

AW Trites

C Arivazhagan

C Schwitzer

CG Becker

CJ Deutsch

CM Sgrò

CW Kuhar

DH Nussey

EH Less

EL Charnov

EN Videan

F Ochwada-Doyle

G Ernsting

GA Lincoln

GM Maynes

Hannah S. Mumby

HS Mumby

Htoo Htoo Aung

J Hanks

J Hunt

JA Hollister-Smith

JD Congdon

Jennie A. H. Crawley

JJ Ely

JM Plavcan

JW Vaupel

K Zaw

Khyne U. Mar

KP Sebens

KU Mar

L Kratochvíl

L Vinicius

M Heino

M Lahdenperä

M Lindeque

M Tafani

MR Robinson

N Hamidan

P Bergeron

P Jarman

P Leimgruber

PI Chiyo

R Arlinghaus

R Shine

R Sibly

R Sukumar

RM Huggins

RM Laws

S Silva De

SC Stearns

Simon N. Chapman

SR Leigh

T Gale

TB Hildebrandt

TH Clutton-Brock

Virpi Lummaa

Win Htut

BMC Evolutionary Biology

Abstract
                Background
                The growth strategy of a species influences many key aspects of its life-history. Animals can either grow indeterminately (throughout life), or grow determinately, ceasing at maturity. In mammals, continued weight gain after maturity is clearly distinguishable from continued skeletal growth (indeterminate growth). Elephants represent an interesting candidate for studying growth because of their large size, long life and sexual dimorphism. Objective measures of their weight, height and age, however, are rare.
              
                Results
                We investigate evidence for indeterminate growth in the Asian elephant Elephas maximus using a longitudinal dataset from a semi-captive population. We fit growth curves to weight and height measurements, assess sex differences in growth, and test for indeterminate growth by comparing the asymptotes for height and weight curves. Our results show no evidence for indeterminate growth in the Asian elephant; neither sex increases in height throughout life, with the majority of height growth completed by the age of 15 years in females and 21 years in males. Females show a similar pattern with weight, whereas males continue to gain weight until over age 50. Neither sex shows any declines in weight with age.
              
                Conclusions
                These results have implications for understanding mammalian life-history, which could include sex-specific differences in trade-offs between size and reproductive investment.
              </jats:sec

Crossref

Distinguishing between determinate and indeterminate growth in a long-lived mammal

https://bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/s12862-015-0487-x?site=bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com

Distinguishing between determinate and indeterminate growth in a long-lived mammal

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Crossref