Elephants rape rhinoceroses

I first encountered the story about elephants raping rhinoceroses when it was mentioned in an episode of the TV show "Boston Legal". A doctor was being tried for killing terminal patients at a New Orleans hospital in the immediate aftermath of Katrina and her attorney tried to liken the disorder of the hospital situation (no power, hence no
climate control or lighting; no communication) to the disorder faced by some young male elephants...I may be not doing his argument justice.

My thought was, "Really? Have elephants been inserting their penises into the vaginas or rectums of unwilling rhinoceroses?," - which is what rape suggests to me. I am skeptical - perhaps "sexual assualt" or "attempted rape" might better describe the behavior in question, if there's anything to this at all.

The elephant story was brought to a large audience by an article in the NY Times and I am trying to contact the author:

An Elephant Crackup?
New York Times Magazine, The (NY)
October 8, 2006
Author: Charles Siebert

excerpt:
Since the early 1990's, for example, young male elephants in
Pilanesberg National Park and the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve in South Africa have been raping and killing rhinoceroses; this abnormal behavior, according to a 2001 study in the journal Pachyderm, has been reported in "a number of reserves" in the region.


This excerpt seems to cite and paraphrase from the journal Pachyderm, which is available online [http://www.iucn.org/themes/ssc/sgs/a...s/pachy31.pdf] but I have not found any mention of rape in that article.
[excerpt]
African elephants, Loxodonta
africana Blumenbach, 1797, have been killing both
black (n = 5) and white rhinos (n = 58), mainly through
tusk wounds made to the shoulder and chest area. This
abnormal behaviour has been described from
a number of reserves but has mainly occurred
in Pilanesberg National Park (PNP), where
between 1992 and 1997 elephants killed up
to 50 white rhinos (Slotow and van Dyk
2001). The culprit elephants were young
males (17–25 years old) who were entering
a state of musth (heightened aggression from
elevated hormones associated with reproductive
competition—Poole and Moss 1981)
well ahead of schedule—from 18 years of
age as opposed to a normal age of 28 years
(Poole 1987)—and were doing so because
of the absence of an older male hierarchy
(Slotow et al. 2000).

I emailed the NY Times about this many days ago but have yet to hear back from them.

I have also tried to interest PZ Myers in this story, also without success.

Larry

[Bonnie]

Hmm, that's very interesting, Larry. Have you tried e-mailing Rob Slotow, corresponding (and first) author of the paper in question, about this claim? I agree that there's no mention of sexual assault on rhinos in those pages, but he may be able to shed light on where The New York Times may (or may not) have heard about this (alleged) behavior.

It also might be worth a try contacting the Editor of Pachyderm for a comment regarding The Times's attribution of elephant-on-rhino "rape" to a study said to have appeared in a 2001 issue of the publication. Try, too, the Programme Officer of the African Elephant Specialist Group for a more general statement regarding these alleged assaults. afesg@iucn.org seems to work for both individuals.

Good luck. Please let us know what you find out.

Bonnie "interestingly, Jacques Cousteau maintained that the same perverse process accounted for the begetting of the elusive whalephant" Taylor

[geminilee]

I do not know whether it is true or not, but interspecific sex is not unprecedented. And, if rape is about dominance for elephants in the same way it is for humans, it is not unbelievable. Elephants and rhinos have a long history of animosity towards each other.

Good suggestions. I am trying the icun email address first.
Larry

[Drama Queen Of Mars]

Found this video that seems to back up the elephant on rhino theory. I don't know where or when it was filmed...then again I'm not sure I want to know. Probably NSFW.

Drama ~I swear I thought she was hot!!!~ Queen

ETA: I just noticed the Animal Planet channel logo in the vid.

[Troberg]

Just look at those slutty rhinos, they are practically asking for it. Going around naked in public like that.

I'm sure it can happen, there are probably some confused elephants out there, but a behaviour observed once is not necessarily something that applies to an entire population.

Received this email today and will follow up as suggested:

Dear Larry Roberts,

My understanding of the incidents that you describe is the same as yours i.e. no rapes occurred in the technical sense of the word. For final confirmation of this, I would recommend that you contact the authors of the paper in Pachyderm. ...

Best regards,

Leo Niskanen
Senior Programme Officer
IUCN/SSC African Elephant Specialist Group

Received this somewhat inconclusive email today from Rob Slotow, an author of the article in "Pachyderm" mentioned in my original post:

Larry
As far as I am aware, the elephants were killing the rhino in a number of reserves, but not raping them. I seem to recall some mention of one of the very young males (before he was mature and killing rhino) used to hang out with rhino, and there may have been some attempted mountings of the rhino (i.e. assuming the position) - I am not sure that it actually happened, but something is jiggling in the back of my mind as to tourist reports. It was before I was involved in the project there. However, there would not have been penetration, i.e. not true rape.

Ro

School of Biological and Conservation Sciences, George Campbell Building, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4041, South Africa

[diddy]

Originally Posted by Troberg

Just look at those slutty rhinos, they are practically asking for it. Going around naked in public like that.

You really can't blame the Rhinos, they're practically horny

[Bonnie]

Thanks for providing updates, Larry.

The elephant story was brought to a large audience by an article in the NY Times and I am trying to contact the author

I assume you still haven't gotten a response from anyone at The Times and that your attempts to reach Mr. Siebert haven't borne fruit.


So, now we know that Slotow denies knowing of any incidents of elephant-rhino "rape" (i.e., forced intercourse) in Pilanesberg National Park and the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve. Not to mention that there was in fact, well, no mention of "rape" in his study.

I think, then, it's a little more incumbent on Mr. Siebert or someone at The New York Times to clarify and comment on the attribution of this factoid to a study appearing in Pachyderm. Have you tried contacting The Times as follows? (It would probably be helpful to include a pointer to Slotow's paper, in case you haven't already done so.)

The Times welcomes comments and suggestions, or complaints about errors that warrant correction. Messages on news coverage can be e-mailed to nytnews@nytimes.com or left toll-free at 1-888-NYT-NEWS (1-888-698-6397). ... Readers dissatisfied with a response or concerned about the paper's journalistic integrity may reach the public editor, Byron Calame, at public@nytimes.com or (212) 556-7652.

Bonnie "tusk, tusk" Taylor

[Artemis]

I've heard about this--the reason behind it was that as children, the elephants' mothers were killed for their tusks and they were chained to the dead bodies of their mothers. Can't find a cite for that yet, but that was how I heard the story originally...

I sent on to the New York Times the emails I got that at least cast doubt on the rape aspect of the Elephant/Rhinoceros story and received from them this reply:

Thanks for your message to our Reader Comment mailbox. Your e-mail will
reach the appropriate editor promptly. We are grateful to readers who
take the time to help us report thoroughly and accurately.

Ordinarily a comment about news coverage will receive a further reply.
And we do pay respectful attention to all messages, even those that are
part of organized letter-writing campaigns, for which we are not
staffed to reply individually. A correction generally takes two or three days
to appear on Page A2, after fact checking.
_________________
To my knowledge they have not published a correction - and I'll say again that I'm not certain their original story was incorrect.