Development of a Body Condition Scoring Index for Female African Elephants Validated by Ultrasound Measurements of Subcutaneous Fat

Abstract

Obesity-related health and reproductive problems may be contributing to non-sustainability of zoo African elephant (Loxodonta africana) populations. However, a major constraint in screening for obesity in elephants is lack of a practical method to accurately assess body fat. Body condition scoring (BCS) is the assessment of subcutaneous fat stores based on visual evaluation and provides an immediate appraisal of the degree of obesity of an individual. The objective of this study was to develop a visual BCS index for female African elephants and validate it using ultrasound measures of subcutaneous fat. To develop the index, standardized photographs were collected from zoo (n = 50) and free-ranging (n = 57) female African elephants for identifying key body regions and skeletal features, which were then used to visually determine body fat deposition patterns. This information was used to develop a visual BCS method consisting of a list of body regions and the physical criteria for assigning an overall score on a 5-point scale, with 1 representing the lowest and 5 representing the highest levels of body fat. Results showed that as BCS increased, ultrasound measures of subcutaneous fat thickness also increased (P<0.01), indicating the scores closely coincide with physical measures of fat reserves. The BCS index proved to be reliable and repeatable based on high intra- and inter-assessor agreement across three assessors. In comparing photographs of wild vs. captive African elephants, the median BCS in the free-ranging individuals (BCS = 3, range 1–5) was lower (P<0.001) than that of the zoo population (BCS = 4, range 2–5). In sum, we have developed the first validated BCS index for African elephants. This tool can be used to examine which factors impact body condition in zoo and free-ranging elephants, providing valuable information on how it affects health and reproductive potential of individual elephants.

Assessment of season-dependent body condition scores in relation to faecal glucocorticoid metabolites in free-ranging Asian elephants

“…Several techniques for assessing the body condition of captive and wild elephants have been developed (Albl, 1971; Wemmer et al , 2006; Fernando et al , 2009; Morfeld et al , 2014; Wijeyamohan et al , 2015). Beside this, studies have also validated the BCS with various invasive techniques of measuring kidney fat, adrenal weight, fat deposition on ribs, packed cell volume and bone marrow dry weight (Albl, 1971; Malpas, 1977; Choquenot, 1991; Gallivan and Culverwell, 1995).…”

Development of a body condition score for the mountain chicken frog (Leptodactylus fallax)

“…The authors preferred the overview format in this case due to its practicality and simplicity (Schiffmann et al, ). When developing a BCS, researchers typically select anatomical features based on appraisal of photographs of the species, advice from experienced keepers, nutritionists or veterinary medical staff, and adaptation of previously published body condition scores in the same or closely related species if available (Audigé, Wilson, & Morris, ; Cook et al, ; Ezenwa, Jolles, & O'Brien, ; Franzmann, ; German et al, ; Morfeld, Lehnhardt, Alligood, Bolling, & Brown, ; Pettis et al, ; Reppert, Treiber, & Ward, ; Rudman & Keiper, ; Schiffmann et al, ; van der Jeugd & Prins, ; Wemmer et al, ). As a BCS had not been described in similar species, the authors selected anatomical landmarks based on the experience of keepers and veterinary staff and appraisal of photographs of the species.…”

Development of an index based on ultrasonographic measurements for the objective appraisal of body condition in Andalusian horses

“…Otherwise, ultrasonography has demonstrated to be an accepted method for measuring fat reserves in farm species (Silva & Cadavez, 2012) and equids (Gentry et al, 2004) due to its objectivity, repeatability of the technique (Martin-Gimenez et al, 2016), low cost and the possibility of being used in field conditions (Quaresma et al, 2013). Thus, in many species, ultrasonography has also been utilized to validate the condition scoring process (Domecq et al, 1994;Gentry et al, 2004;Alapati et al, 2010;Morfeld et al, 2014) and/or to predict the total fat content using mathematical equations that frequently include some SFT measurement (Westervelt et al, 1976;Kane et al, 1987;Stephenson et al, 1998). Conversely, in this case the ultrasonography was used to create a new objective scoring system.…”