The lives of four African elephants have been explored through the unusual medium of their hair, researchers report this week.

The History of Animals using Isotope Records (HAIR) project tracked four elephants from the Samburu National Reserve in Kenya and used differences in isotopes in their tail hair to gain insights into their eating and drinking.

Differences between amounts of heavier carbon 13 isotopes and lighter carbon 12 in the tail hair show whether the beasts have been dining on trees and shrubs or grasses. Certain grasses have higher C13 to C12 ratios.

Similarly, changes in hydrogen and oxygen isotope ratios can show where the elephants are drinking, as dry season rivers are highly evaporated and have a different composition to rainy season rivers, says researcher Thure Cerling.

“Now, we have a long-term record so we can really see what one normal family is doing over a long period of time,” Cerling, of the University of Utah, told the BBC.

This type of data can also show when things are not going well for the elephants. “We have this one incident where they apparently missed an entire good season of grass resource; the GPS data shows that they were outside [the Samburu National Reserve] in a community area where it appears that they had to compete with cattle,” says Cerling. “They got out-competed in that situation.”

Cerling et al’s paper will be available soon when it is published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

See also

University of Utah press release

Hairs Provide Clues to Shifts in Elephant Diet – NY Times

University of Utah study identifies threats to elephants – Deseret News

Image: Mahala Kephart, University of Utah