African elephants recognise their kin through urine: 06-12-2007
Elephants in Kenya can recognise their kin by the signature smell of their urine and use it to keep track of their whereabouts, it has been claimed.
New research revealed that a keen trunk and a good memory are the essential ingredients for the pachyderms as they travel in changing groups, sometimes several hundred in number.
Working in Kenya's Amboseli National Park, scientists from Britain and Kenya tested the ability of the elephants to distinguish kin from a stranger.
Richard Byrne, project leader from the University of St Andrews, and his team placed samples of urine mixed with earth across the paths of 36 elephant groups and then measured their reaction.
The first group were not interested because they did not recognise the urine but when they recognised the smell they became more involved.
According to the study, African elephants can track 17 females at different times and the lead elephant displayed high interest if the smell was that of an animal who had been behind the family.
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