Diurnal and Nocturnal Activity Time Budgets of Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus) in a Zoological Park

Lukacs, Denise E.; Poulin, Melanie; Besenthal, Hayley; Fad, Otto; Miller, Stephen P.; Atkinson, Joanne; Finegan, Esther J.

doi:10.12966/abc.01.05.2016

Cited by 9 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…However, there was also individual variability observed between the bulls. These responses are comparable to research monitoring behavioural changes in zoo and circus elephants after they were removed from tethers (e.g., [ 15 , 44 , 45 ]).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 75%

Behaviour and Welfare Impacts of Releasing Elephants from Overnight Tethers: A Zimbabwean Case Study

Williams

Clark

Rendle-Worthington³

et al. 2022

Animals

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Within the southern African elephant tourism industry, chaining or tethering elephants is still a relatively routine practice, despite the known negative impacts. Cited reasons for chaining include fear of aggressive interactions between elephants when handlers are absent, or a general increase in expression of aggressive behaviours (both to other elephants and to their human handlers). In Zimbabwe, concerns expressed include the danger of elephants escaping and entering human-inhabited areas. Four male semi-captive elephants at a Zimbabwe tourist facility were taken off overnight (~12 h) tethers and were placed in small pens (‘bomas’), approximate sizes from 110 m2 to 310 m2), as part of a strategy to improve elephant welfare. Behavioural data were collected from overnight videos from December 2019 to March 2020, between 18:00 to 06:00, using focal, instantaneous sampling (5-min interval). Data were collected for three nights at three time periods: (i) Tethered; (ii) approximately four weeks post-release; (iii) approximately eight weeks post-release. Behavioural change over these time points was analysed using general linear models with quasibinomial error structures. Behavioural changes indicative of improved welfare were observed following these management changes, and no significant increases in aggression were observed either between elephants, or towards their human handlers. Proportion of time engaging in lying rest was higher in the first month after release from tethering (mean ± SD, 50 ± 14%) than when elephants were tethered (20 ± 18%) (p < 0.05). Additionally, although not statistically significant, stereotypies were reduced when elephants were no longer tethered (4 ± 6% observations tethered compared to 2 ± 2% off tethers), and positive social behaviour also increased (1 ± 1% on tethers, 2 ± 2% off tethers), with the greatest improvements seen in the pair-housed elephants. To improve elephant welfare in southern African tourism facilities we strongly advocate that less restrictive management practices which enable greater choice and freedom of movement overnight are implemented.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 75%

Behaviour and Welfare Impacts of Releasing Elephants from Overnight Tethers: A Zimbabwean Case Study

Williams

Clark

Rendle-Worthington³

et al. 2022

Animals

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“…Parker et al 2020 ). While data on nocturnal activity of elephants is limited, and largely focused on fully captive systems, there is some evidence that elephants may be stationary for large periods of the night (Wilson et al 2006 ; Lukacs et al 2016 ), and that activity depends on age and access to outside areas (Evison et al 2020 ) suggesting that most social activity takes place during diurnal hours. The measures of elephant sociality used in our study might have been too broad to capture any potential weak infection–sociality associations present in our study population or actually not capture specific social–infection mechanisms.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating associations between nematode infection and three measures of sociality in Asian elephants

Lynsdale

Seltmann

Mon

et al. 2022

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Frequent social interactions, proximity to conspecifics, and group density are main drivers of infections and parasite transmissions. However, recent theoretical and empirical studies suggest that the health benefits of sociality and group living can outweigh the costs of infection and help social individuals fight infections or increase their infection-related tolerance level. Here, we combine the advantage of studying artificially created social work groups with different demographic compositions with free-range feeding and social behaviours in semi-captive Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), employed in timber logging in Myanmar. We examine the link between gastro-intestinal nematode load (strongyles and Strongyloides spp.), estimated by faecal egg counts, and three different aspects of an elephant’s social world: individual solitary behaviour, work group size, and work group sex ratio. Controlling for sex, age, origin, time since last deworming treatment, year, human sampler bias, and individual identity, we found that infection by nematodes ranged from 0 to 2720 eggs/g between and within 26 male and 45 female elephants over the 4-year study period. However, such variation was not linked to any investigated measures of sociality in either males or females. Our findings highlight the need for finer-scale studies, establishing how sociality is limited by, mitigates, or protects against infection in different ecological contexts, to fully understand the mechanisms underlying these pathways. Significance statement Being social involves not only benefits, such as improved health, but also costs, including increased risk of parasitism and infectious disease. We studied the relationship between and three different sociality measures—solitary behaviour, group size, and the proportion of females to males within a group—and infection by gut nematodes (roundworms), using a unique study system of semi-captive working Asian elephants. Our system allows for observing how infection is linked to sociality measures across different social frameworks. We found that none of our social measures was associated with nematode infection in the studied elephants. Our results therefore suggest that here infection is not a large cost to group living, that it can be alleviated by the benefits of increased sociality, or that there are weak infection–sociality associations present which could not be captured and thus require finer-scale measures than those studied here. Overall, more studies are needed from a diverse range of systems that investigate specific aspects of social infection dynamics.

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“…Her average of 219·5 minutes per night is at the lower end of the sleep times recorded by other studies; however, it is still within normal parameters. Lukacs et al () reported Asian elephant calves lying down between 0 and 45% (0 to c. 324 minutes) of the night, with an average of 13% ( c. 94 minutes). At Night Safari sleep time varied from as little as 25 minutes to as much as 390 minutes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sleep monitoring of an Asian elephant Elephas maximus calf at Night Safari, Singapore: testing whether sleep time is a significant predictor of cortisol or the onset of positive elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus viraemia

Kalirathinam¹,

Elangkovan²,

Kawi³

et al. 2019

International Zoo Yearbook

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A number of methods for measuring the welfare of elephants in human care have been used within zoological associations and rescue centres worldwide. The measurement of glucocorticoids in relation to stress has been particularly well validated. Measuring stress is especially important for Asian elephant Elephas maximus calves between one and 8 years of age which are highly susceptible to developing elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV) haemorrhagic disease. Sleep monitoring has been used as a possible means of assessing the welfare state of animals, although the efficacy of this method has not been validated. Our aim was to test whether sleep time or cortisol provided the most significant predictor for the onset of positive EEHV blood viraemia in a 2 year‐old calf at Night Safari, Singapore. Faecal samples were collected twice per week and assayed for glucocorticoids. Using closed‐circuit television, the time the calf slept each night was measured between December 2017 and September 2018. Sleep was not a predictor of viraemia nor of cortisol concentration in this study. However, cortisol appeared to be related to the occurrence of viraemia.

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Diurnal and Nocturnal Activity Time Budgets of Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus) in a Zoological Park

Cited by 9 publications

References 22 publications

Behaviour and Welfare Impacts of Releasing Elephants from Overnight Tethers: A Zimbabwean Case Study

Behaviour and Welfare Impacts of Releasing Elephants from Overnight Tethers: A Zimbabwean Case Study

Investigating associations between nematode infection and three measures of sociality in Asian elephants

Sleep monitoring of an Asian elephant Elephas maximus calf at Night Safari, Singapore: testing whether sleep time is a significant predictor of cortisol or the onset of positive elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus viraemia

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