Fig. 3: Depiction of the strong correlation between fecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations and seasonality.
From: Social support correlates with glucocorticoid concentrations in wild African elephant orphans
NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index—a measure of primary productivity) mean (solid line) and standard deviation (dotted line) over the course of the study above the glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations in ng/g (nanograms of metabolites per gram of fecal matter) of three study elephants from the same family. Circles depict sample fecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations, with samples from each elephant distinguished according to fill color (white, black, or gray). Long-dashed lines emphasize oscillations in a single elephant’s concentrations over time. Glucocorticoids fluctuated most in relation to changes in primary productivity.
