Elephant tail hair tells isotopic story of diet

摘要

With the combination of climate change and human encroachment on the territory of endangered species, information about what and where animals eat and how this is changing over time canrnhelp guide conservation efforts. Thure Ceding et al. compiled a 6-year record of nitrogen, carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen in the diet of a family of 4 Kenyan elephants by analyzing the isotopic content of the elephants' tail hair. The authors tracked the elephants' precise location throughout the study by using GPS collars. Carbon isotopes in the hair were strongly correlated within the family and varied in phase with regional vegetation; hydrogen isotopes kept pace with vegetation and rainfall fluctuations.