Announcing intent: the aggressive state of musth in African elephants

During musth, male Loxodonta africana announce a state of heightened aggression with signals that are unbluffable. Since smaller musth males in poor condition are able to dominate larger, normally higher-ranking, non-musth males in good condition, musth provides a useful system with which to examine the possibility of honest signalling of motivation, rather than of fighting ability. Despite the highly aggressive state of males in musth, escalated contents are extremely rare. The behaviour of musth and non-musth males suggests that opponents are able to estimate their often rapidly changing roles in the asymmetries with relative accuracy. Since, unlike most other rutting mammals, elephants have asynchronous sexually active periods, resource value varies both with age and the fluctuating sexual state of a particular individual. Musth may be a case where information about resource value is conveyed. -from Author