By: drh. Annisa Wandha Sari

Editor: Natalia Trita Agnika

As a veterinarian in charge of treating the elephants in WWF-Indonesia's Flying Squad team in Tesso Nilo National Park, I am happy when I see the elephants go through various phases, such as pregnancy, birth, and growth. There is one more phase that may be rarely known by the general public. This phase, called musth, is experienced by male elephants. We are happy when we see an elephant in musth.

Elephants that have experienced musth are male elephants that have good genetics to reproduce. Musth is a unique natural occurrence found in elephants. It is a natural phenomenon. According to Kusumawati (2011), musth occurs every year and is generally experienced by adult male elephants between the ages of 20-25 years. Musth is characterized by the presence of oil-like fluid from the temporal glands, rather thick, dark in color, and stimulating in smell. Musth lasts regularly each year for a few days to two or three months, averaging 10 days, and generally coincides with the rainy season.

Based on medical records, there are two adult male elephants in the Elephant Flying Squad, Rahman (40) and Indro (35). During 2017, Rahman experienced musth once, from September 12, 2017 to October 15, 2017 for 34 days (1 month). Indro also experienced musth once in a year, from May 25, 2017 to July 6, 2017 for 44 days (1.5 months). In September 2018, Rahman was also experiencing musth.

When in musth, elephants become aggressive, restless, drip urine from the preputium (the tip of the genitals), and ooze from the temporal glands located under the skin on both sides of the head, between the eyes and ear holes. The fluid empties into the ductus. There are four stages of the musth period. At stage 4, an elephant experiencing musth is at the peak of emotion, so if it is released, it can result in it attacking those around it or otherwise the elephant appears sick, moody, and even sleepy.

Seeing an elephant musth brings us great joy. It means the elephant is ready to reproduce. A new hope for the continued regeneration of this charismatic animal was raised.