Nocturnal behavior of orphaned Asian elephant (<i>Elephas maximus</i>) calves in Sri Lanka

Stokes, Helena S.; Perera, Vijitha; Jayasena, Nilmini; Silva‐Fletcher, Ayona

doi:10.1002/zoo.21360

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Infant and juvenile elephants were found to sleep for significantly longer each night compared with young adult and adult individuals within the herd, which corresponds with previous findings by Stokes, Perera, Jayasena, and Silva‐Fletcher (2017). The most likely explanation for this difference is the increased requirement of REM sleep in developing infants for growth and brain development, which is thought to occur during recumbent rest (Schiffmann et al, 2018a; Siegel, 2005).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Social and environmental impacts on sleep in captive Asian elephants (Elephas maximus)

2020

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Modern zoos strive to improve standards of animal management, husbandry and welfare of their animals as part of a continual evaluation process. Elephants (Elephantidae) have received particular attention in recent years due to the challenge of providing environments which promote natural behavior and opportunities for social interaction. A number of measures have been proposed to measure wellbeing, with sleep quality increasingly being used. Sleep is a vital aspect of life for cell replenishment as well as optimal development of young. Sleep deprivation can lead to immunosuppression and illness; therefore animal managers have a responsibility to ensure they reduce the potential for disturbance through noise, light, or other environmental factors. The social environment also plays an essential role in wellbeing, particularly for species that live in multi-generational family units. In this study the nocturnal behavior of a multi-generational captive herd was observed to determine impacts of husbandry changes on sleep duration and bout length (measured as recumbent rest). As expected, average total duration of sleep was higher in younger elephants and rates were comparable to those reported in other studies of Asian elephants. Overnight access to an outdoor paddock in warmer weather increased overall average bout length of sleep in the herd. Average total duration of sleep also increased for the herd following the movement of an unrelated adult female who had previously shown weak bonds with other herd members. This indicates that social compatibility is a vital component of elephant welfare, impacting not only behavioral interactions but sleep quality and duration.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Social and environmental impacts on sleep in captive Asian elephants (Elephas maximus)

2020

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“…From this literature, we extracted data available on the basis of individual animals for age, the time spent in lying and in standing rest, and the laterality of lying rest, and compiled them per elephant species in a spreadsheet, which is available as online supplementary S2. Several current publications on nocturnal elephant behavior lack data on individual elephants, sleeping activity and could not be considered in our analysis (Holdgate et al, ; Horback, Miller, Andrews, & Kuczaj, ; Stokes, Perera, Jayasena, & Silva‐Fletcher, ). We performed correlation analysis by nonparametric Spearmans’ test, and General Linear Models (GLM; confirming the normal distribution of residuals by Kolmogorov‐Smirnov‐test) for Asian elephants to include both the effect of origin (zoo, circus, or orphanage) and age in the analyses.…”

Section: Review Methods and Statistical Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Factors reported to correlate with reluctance to lie down in zoo elephantsStokes, Perera, Jayasena, & Silva-Fletcher, 2017). We performed correlation analysis by nonparametric Spearmans' test, and General Linear Models (GLM; confirming the normal distribution of residuals by Kolmogorov-Smirnov-test) for Asian elephants to include both the effect of origin (zoo, circus, or orphanage) and age in the analyses.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

When elephants fall asleep: A literature review on elephant rest with case studies on elephant falling bouts, and practical solutions for zoo elephants

et al. 2018

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Little attention has been paid to the resting and sleeping behavior of zoo elephants so far. An important concern is when elephants avoid lying down, due to degenerative joint and foot disease, social structure, or stressful environmental changes. Inability or unwillingness to lie down for resting is an important welfare issue, as it may impair sleep. We emphasize the importance of satisfying rest in elephants by reviewing the literature on resting behavior in elephants (Loxodonta africana and Elephas maximus) as well as the documentation of four cases from European zoos and our own direct observations in a zoo group of four female African elephants during 12 entire days. The common denominator in the case reports is the occurrence of a falling bout out of a standing position subsequently to a cessation of lying rest for different periods of time. Although well-known in horses as "episodic collapse" or "excessive drowsiness," this syndrome has not been described in elephants before. To enable its detection, we recommend nocturnal video monitoring for elephant-keeping institutions. The literature evaluation as well as own observational data suggest an inverse relationship between lying rest and standing rest. Preventative measures consist of enclosure modifications that facilitate lying rest (e.g., sand hills) or standing rest in a leaning position as a substitute. Anecdotal observations suggest that the provision of appropriate horizontal environmental structures may encourage safe, sleep-conducive standing rest. We provide drawings on how to install such structures. Effects of providing such structures should be evaluated in the future.

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“…Furthermore, wild elephants will find new places to sleep every night because they walk many miles and spend a lot of time eating (Gravett et al, 2017). Wild elephants spend most of the night standing, which could be due to their search for food (Wilson et al, 2006;Stokes et al, 2017). Besides eating and drinking, elephants interact with each other within their group and rest by standing or lying down (Wilson et al, 2006;Shyne 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some of the elephants' behaviours seem to be affected by the handlers' daily events. Especially the stereotypical behaviour swaying (a rocking movement from side to side) is directly linked to the handlers' scheduled arrival and depart (Wilson et al, 2006;Stokes et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The nocturnal behaviour of African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in Aalborg Zoo and how changes in the environment affect them

Andersen

Herskind

Maysfelt

et al. 2020

GABJ

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Elephants’ nocturnal behaviours are an important part of their welfare in captivity. For this reason, this study investigates whether the nocturnal behaviour of three African elephants’ (Loxodonta africana) in Aalborg Zoo is affected when exposed to different conditions and if they are affected differently. Camera footage was used to log the elephants’ behaviours at night during a control period and during two periods with different impacts, which consisted of six nights respectively. Every night, the elephants were captured on video from 8 pm to 8 am and the behaviours were subsequently logged every second following an ethogram containing seven behaviours. This study was not able to show an effect (p > 0.05) on the elephants’ nocturnal behaviour related to an increase in visitor activity during the Autumn holiday. However, a significant increase in the duration of the sway behaviour was found after the shift from daylight saving time to standard time. This study also found that the elephants show individual norms within the behaviours such as interaction with food and abnormal behaviours. The lack of statistical evidence for changes in nocturnal behaviour related to visitor activity, may be due to other external factors influencing the nocturnal behaviour of the elephants. Swaying behaviour was affected by the shift to standard time of all three elephants. Individual differences in nocturnal behaviours indicate that the three elephants have different animal personalities.

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Nocturnal behavior of orphaned Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) calves in Sri Lanka

Cited by 7 publications

References 45 publications

Social and environmental impacts on sleep in captive Asian elephants (Elephas maximus)

Social and environmental impacts on sleep in captive Asian elephants (Elephas maximus)

When elephants fall asleep: A literature review on elephant rest with case studies on elephant falling bouts, and practical solutions for zoo elephants

The nocturnal behaviour of African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in Aalborg Zoo and how changes in the environment affect them

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