Editing Elephant (section)

====Musth====
{{Main|Musth}}
[[File:2005-tusker-musth-crop.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Indian elephant bull in musth]]
Adult males enter a state of increased [[testosterone]] known as [[musth]]. In a population in southern India, males first enter musth at 15 years old, but it is not very intense until they are older than 25. At Amboseli, no bulls under 24 were found to be in musth, while half of those aged 25–35 and all those over 35 were. In some areas, there may be seasonal influences on the timing of musths. The main characteristic of a bull's musth is a fluid discharged from the [[Temporin|temporal gland]] that runs down the side of his face. Behaviours associated with musth include walking with a high and swinging head, nonsynchronous ear flapping, picking at the ground with the tusks, marking, rumbling, and urinating in the [[penile sheath|sheath]]. The length of this varies between males of different ages and conditions, lasting from days to months.<ref name=Sukumar100 />

Males become extremely aggressive during musth. Size is the determining factor in [[Agonistic behaviour|agonistic]] encounters when the individuals have the same condition. In contests between musth and non-musth individuals, musth bulls win the majority of the time, even when the non-musth bull is larger. A male may stop showing signs of musth when he encounters a musth male of higher rank. Those of equal rank tend to avoid each other. Agonistic encounters typically consist of threat displays, chases, and minor sparring. Rarely do they full-on fight.<ref name=Sukumar100>Sukumar, pp. 100–08.</ref> 

There is at least one documented case of [[Infanticide (zoology)|infanticide]] among Asian elephants at Dong Yai Wildlife Sanctuary, with the researchers describing it as most likely normal behaviour among aggressive musth elephants.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wanghongsa |first1=Sawai |last2=Boonkird |first2=Kalyanee |title=On the incident of infanticide in wild elephants |journal=Wildlife Yearbook |date=2006 |volume=7 |pages=111–119}}</ref>