variants
or less commonly must
: a periodic state of the bull elephant characterized especially by aggressive behavior and usually connected with the rutting season
Examples of musth in a Sentence
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Researchers are also curious whether changes in musth over time could offer clues about what contributed to mammoths’ demise and eventual extinction roughly 4,000 years ago.
—
Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 4 May 2023
The findings provide what researchers believe to be the first direct evidence that, like elephants, mammoths also experienced musth.
—Ashley Strickland, CNN, 3 May 2023
Mammoths With Musth Auchus also analyzed powder from a male African elephant and found annual testosterone spikes consistent with musth, as expected.
—Matt Hrodey, Discover Magazine, 3 May 2023
If resources are plentiful year round, males can go through musth at any time, and reproduction in those elephant populations can occur throughout the year.
—Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 3 May 2023
Instead, a bull spends his annual two- or three-month stint of erotic drive searching for willing females in estrus, or fighting with other males in musth, all the while eating relatively little.
—New York Times, 3 June 2021
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Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 4 May 2023
The findings provide what researchers believe to be the first direct evidence that, like elephants, mammoths also experienced musth.
—Ashley Strickland, CNN, 3 May 2023
Mammoths With Musth Auchus also analyzed powder from a male African elephant and found annual testosterone spikes consistent with musth, as expected.
—Matt Hrodey, Discover Magazine, 3 May 2023
If resources are plentiful year round, males can go through musth at any time, and reproduction in those elephant populations can occur throughout the year.
—Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 3 May 2023
Instead, a bull spends his annual two- or three-month stint of erotic drive searching for willing females in estrus, or fighting with other males in musth, all the while eating relatively little.
—New York Times, 3 June 2021
Cite this Entry
“Musth.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/musth. Accessed 16 Sep. 2025.
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