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Evaluation of Demographics and Social Life Events of Asian (Elephas maximus) and African Elephants (Loxodonta africana) in North American Zoos

This study quantified social life events hypothesized to affect the welfare of zoo African and Asian elephants, focusing on animals that were part of a large multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional elephant welfare study in North America. Age was calculated based on recorded birth dates and an age-b...

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Autores principales: Prado-Oviedo, Natalia A., Bonaparte-Saller, Mary K., Malloy, Elizabeth J., Meehan, Cheryl L., Mench, Joy A., Carlstead, Kathy, Brown, Janine L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4945030/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27415437
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0154750
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author Prado-Oviedo, Natalia A.
Bonaparte-Saller, Mary K.
Malloy, Elizabeth J.
Meehan, Cheryl L.
Mench, Joy A.
Carlstead, Kathy
Brown, Janine L.
author_facet Prado-Oviedo, Natalia A.
Bonaparte-Saller, Mary K.
Malloy, Elizabeth J.
Meehan, Cheryl L.
Mench, Joy A.
Carlstead, Kathy
Brown, Janine L.
author_sort Prado-Oviedo, Natalia A.
collection PubMed
description This study quantified social life events hypothesized to affect the welfare of zoo African and Asian elephants, focusing on animals that were part of a large multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional elephant welfare study in North America. Age was calculated based on recorded birth dates and an age-based account of life event data for each elephant was compiled. These event histories included facility transfers, births and deaths of offspring, and births and deaths of non-offspring herd mates. Each event was evaluated as a total number of events per elephant, lifetime rate of event exposure, and age at first event exposure. These were then compared across three categories: species (African vs. Asian); sex (male vs. female); and origin (imported vs. captive-born). Mean age distributions differed (p<0.05) between the categories: African elephants were 6 years younger than Asian elephants, males were 12 years younger than females, and captive-born elephants were 20 years younger than imported elephants. Overall, the number of transfers ranged from 0 to 10, with a 33% higher age-adjusted transfer rate for imported African than imported Asian elephants, and 37% lower rate for imported females than males (p<0.05). Other differences (p<0.05) included a 96% higher rate of offspring births for captive-born females than those imported from range countries, a 159% higher rate of birthing event exposures for captive-born males than for their imported counterparts, and Asian elephant females being 4 years younger than African females when they produced their first calf. In summarizing demographic and social life events of elephants in North American zoos, we found both qualitative and quantitative differences in the early lives of imported versus captive-born elephants that could have long-term welfare implications.
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spelling pubmed-49450302016-08-08 Evaluation of Demographics and Social Life Events of Asian (Elephas maximus) and African Elephants (Loxodonta africana) in North American Zoos Prado-Oviedo, Natalia A. Bonaparte-Saller, Mary K. Malloy, Elizabeth J. Meehan, Cheryl L. Mench, Joy A. Carlstead, Kathy Brown, Janine L. PLoS One Research Article This study quantified social life events hypothesized to affect the welfare of zoo African and Asian elephants, focusing on animals that were part of a large multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional elephant welfare study in North America. Age was calculated based on recorded birth dates and an age-based account of life event data for each elephant was compiled. These event histories included facility transfers, births and deaths of offspring, and births and deaths of non-offspring herd mates. Each event was evaluated as a total number of events per elephant, lifetime rate of event exposure, and age at first event exposure. These were then compared across three categories: species (African vs. Asian); sex (male vs. female); and origin (imported vs. captive-born). Mean age distributions differed (p<0.05) between the categories: African elephants were 6 years younger than Asian elephants, males were 12 years younger than females, and captive-born elephants were 20 years younger than imported elephants. Overall, the number of transfers ranged from 0 to 10, with a 33% higher age-adjusted transfer rate for imported African than imported Asian elephants, and 37% lower rate for imported females than males (p<0.05). Other differences (p<0.05) included a 96% higher rate of offspring births for captive-born females than those imported from range countries, a 159% higher rate of birthing event exposures for captive-born males than for their imported counterparts, and Asian elephant females being 4 years younger than African females when they produced their first calf. In summarizing demographic and social life events of elephants in North American zoos, we found both qualitative and quantitative differences in the early lives of imported versus captive-born elephants that could have long-term welfare implications. Public Library of Science 2016-07-14 /pmc/articles/PMC4945030/ /pubmed/27415437 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0154750 Text en https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) public domain dedication.
spellingShingle Research Article
Prado-Oviedo, Natalia A.
Bonaparte-Saller, Mary K.
Malloy, Elizabeth J.
Meehan, Cheryl L.
Mench, Joy A.
Carlstead, Kathy
Brown, Janine L.
Evaluation of Demographics and Social Life Events of Asian (Elephas maximus) and African Elephants (Loxodonta africana) in North American Zoos
title Evaluation of Demographics and Social Life Events of Asian (Elephas maximus) and African Elephants (Loxodonta africana) in North American Zoos
title_full Evaluation of Demographics and Social Life Events of Asian (Elephas maximus) and African Elephants (Loxodonta africana) in North American Zoos
title_fullStr Evaluation of Demographics and Social Life Events of Asian (Elephas maximus) and African Elephants (Loxodonta africana) in North American Zoos
title_full_unstemmed Evaluation of Demographics and Social Life Events of Asian (Elephas maximus) and African Elephants (Loxodonta africana) in North American Zoos
title_short Evaluation of Demographics and Social Life Events of Asian (Elephas maximus) and African Elephants (Loxodonta africana) in North American Zoos
title_sort evaluation of demographics and social life events of asian (elephas maximus) and african elephants (loxodonta africana) in north american zoos
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4945030/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27415437
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0154750
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