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Research Article
Minimum cost of transport in Asian elephants: do we really need a bigger elephant?
Vaughan A. Langman, Michael F. Rowe, Thomas J. Roberts, Nathanial V. Langman, Charles R. Taylor
Journal of Experimental Biology 2012 215: 1509-1514; doi: 10.1242/jeb.063032
Vaughan A. Langman
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  • For correspondence: vaughan.a.langman@aphis.usda.gov
Michael F. Rowe
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Thomas J. Roberts
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Nathanial V. Langman
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Charles R. Taylor
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    Fig. 1.

    Open-system measurement of resting oxygen consumption in a female Asian elephant prior to exercise at Audubon Zoo, New Orleans, LA, USA.

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    Fig. 2.

    Mass-specific total (solid symbols) and net energy expenditure (open symbols) (EEtot and EEnet; W kg–1) in two adult Asian elephants (Panya, red circles; Jean, blue squares) at walking speeds ranging from 0.13 to 2.2 m s–1. The equation describing the curvilinear increase in EEtot with walking speed is EEtot=0.35v 2f+0.42vf+0.75, where vf is walking speed (m s–1) (R2=0.88). The equation describing the curvilinear increase in EEnet with walking speed is EEnet=0.38v 2f+0.32vf+0.08 (R2=0.75). The mean EEtot and EEnet in three sub-adult African elephants (dashed lines) walking at speeds ranging from 0.44 to 2.5 m s–1 reported by Langman et al. (Langman et al., 1995) are presented for comparison.

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    Fig. 3.

    Mass-specific total (solid symbols) and net cost of transport (open symbols) (COTtot and COTnet; J kg–1 m–1) in two Asian elephants (Panya, red circles; Jean, blue squares) at walking speeds from 0.13 to 2.2 m s–1. The equation describing the curvilinear relationship between COTtot and walking speed is COTtot=2.8v 2f–8.7vf+7.8, where vf is walking speed (m s–1) (R2=0.85). Note that the curve for Asian elephants is strongly affected by the high leverage of the data points at the exceptionally slow walking speed of 0.13 m s–1, and thus the walking speed for minimum COT (COTmin) is not clearly defined. The equation describing the curvilinear relationship between COTnet and body mass is COTnet=0.64v 2f–1.6vf+1.8 (R2=0.40). The mean COTtot and COTnet in three sub-adult African elephants (dashed lines) walking at speeds ranging from 0.44 to 2.5 m s–1 reported by Langman et al. (Langman et al., 1995) are presented for comparison.

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    Fig. 4.

    Second-order polynomial equations (Table 2) describing the quasi-intraspecific relationships between estimated total cost of transport (COTtot) and Froude number in two adult Asian elephants (Panya, red solid line; Jean, blue solid line) and three sub-adult African elephants (Kelly, dotted line; Tara, short dashed line; Dottie, long dashed line). The estimated minimum cost of transport occurred over a narrow range of Froude numbers, from 0.1 to 2.4.

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    Fig. 5.

    Interspecific relationship between minimum cost of transport (COTmin;, J kg–1 m–1) and body mass (Mb; kg) in terrestrial animals ranging in size from 0.8 g to 3545 kg. The relationship between COTmin and body mass in reptiles, amphibians, crustaceans, myriapods and insects ranging in size from 0.8 g to approximately 1 kg is represented by the allometric equation COTmin=10.8M –0.32b (dotted line) (Full and Tu, 1991). The relationship between COTmin and body mass in mammals ranging in size from 7 g to 260 kg is represented by the allometric equation COTmin=10.7±0.663M –0.316±0.023b (95% CI) (solid line) (Taylor et al., 1982). The addition of adult Asian elephants and sub-adult African elephants (blue circles) to data from Taylor et al. (Taylor et al., 1982) produced the equation COTmin=11.9±3.30M –0.277±0.046b (long dashed line). The quasi-intraspecific relationship within elephants is described by the allometric equation COTmin=1.43±0.07M 0.007±0.455b (short dashed line). We estimate the COTmin in a large (7500 kg) elephant (red diamond) to be approximately 1.52 J kg–1 m–1.

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Research Article
Minimum cost of transport in Asian elephants: do we really need a bigger elephant?
Vaughan A. Langman, Michael F. Rowe, Thomas J. Roberts, Nathanial V. Langman, Charles R. Taylor
Journal of Experimental Biology 2012 215: 1509-1514; doi: 10.1242/jeb.063032
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Research Article
Minimum cost of transport in Asian elephants: do we really need a bigger elephant?
Vaughan A. Langman, Michael F. Rowe, Thomas J. Roberts, Nathanial V. Langman, Charles R. Taylor
Journal of Experimental Biology 2012 215: 1509-1514; doi: 10.1242/jeb.063032

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