Development and reproduction in Amboseli elephants: a life history approach
Institute Seminar by Phyllis Lee
- Date: Oct 21, 2025
- Time: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM (Local Time Germany)
- Speaker: Phyllis Lee
- Reader, University of Cambridge (Biological Anthropology) until 2005, Professor of Psychology at the University of Stirling from 2005, Emeritus Professor from 2020. My early field research was on juvenile baboons in Tanzania, and my PhD was on vervet monkeys in Amboseli, Kenya (based with Professor Robert Hinde, Zoology, University of Cambridge). My post-doc was studying calf development in the Amboseli elephants from 1981-84, and I have continued to work with these elephants for the last 40+ years. My MSc and PhD students have worked with elephants in Sri Lanka, India, Gabon, Congo, Kenya and Tanzania. We have studied welfare among captive elephants, as well as the ecology and behaviour of a number of primate species, including great apes, in areas as diverse as the Central African Republic and Brazil.
- Location: Bückle St. 5a, 78467 Konstanz
- Room: Seminar room MPI-AB Bücklestrasse + Online
- Host: Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior
- Contact: rthillaikumar@ab.mpg.de
I will be presenting information from a small population of elephants which ranged in size from ~600 (1970s) to ~1800 elephants (2025), and which ranges over ~5000 km2 in Southern Kenya. Individuals (n >4600) and families (n = 64) have been followed since 1972; births, deaths and matings are recorded based on monthly resighting data of these known individuals. Between 1980 and 1984, we observed in detail the development of over 200 individual calves, aged between birth and five years old. These individuals have been followed over their lifespan, and information on their success (or failure) is known. We have also tracked over 900 females from birth to first reproduction and over 200 males during their dispersal from their natal units. I will present information on interactions, social dynamics and reproduction over the life course of these known individuals
The MPI-AB Seminar Series is open to members of MPI and Uni Konstanz. The zoom link is published each week in the MPI-AB newsletter.