Cargando…

Associations among tourist camp management, high and low tourist seasons, and welfare factors in female Asian elephants in Thailand

This study investigated how camp management and tourist activities affect body condition, adrenocortical function, lipid profiles and metabolic status in female tourist elephants. We compared twice monthly serum insulin, glucose, fructosamine, total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density l...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Norkaew, Treepradab, Brown, Janine L., Thitaram, Chatchote, Bansiddhi, Pakkanut, Somgird, Chaleamchat, Punyapornwithaya, Veerasak, Punturee, Khanittha, Vongchan, Preeyanat, Somboon, Nopphamas, Khonmee, Jaruwan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6576785/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31206564
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0218579
_version_ 1783427842142371840
author Norkaew, Treepradab
Brown, Janine L.
Thitaram, Chatchote
Bansiddhi, Pakkanut
Somgird, Chaleamchat
Punyapornwithaya, Veerasak
Punturee, Khanittha
Vongchan, Preeyanat
Somboon, Nopphamas
Khonmee, Jaruwan
author_facet Norkaew, Treepradab
Brown, Janine L.
Thitaram, Chatchote
Bansiddhi, Pakkanut
Somgird, Chaleamchat
Punyapornwithaya, Veerasak
Punturee, Khanittha
Vongchan, Preeyanat
Somboon, Nopphamas
Khonmee, Jaruwan
author_sort Norkaew, Treepradab
collection PubMed
description This study investigated how camp management and tourist activities affect body condition, adrenocortical function, lipid profiles and metabolic status in female tourist elephants. We compared twice monthly serum insulin, glucose, fructosamine, total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein (LDL), high density lipoprotein (HDL), and fecal glucocorticoid metabolite (FGM) concentrations to body condition scores (BCS) at five camps with different management styles (e.g., tourist activities, work type, diet) between the High (November–February) and Low (March–October) tourist seasons. There were significant camp effects on health parameters, with BCS, TC, HDL, insulin and glucose being among the highest, and G:I being the lowest (less heathy) in elephants at an observation camp compared to those at camps where elephants received exercise by providing rides to tourists. Differences between High and Low tourist season months also were found for all measures, except TG and FGM concentrations. Both work time and walking distance were negatively correlated to glucose, fructosamine and insulin, while walking distance was negatively related to FGM concentrations. By contrast, positive associations were found between tourist number and BCS, TG, and insulin, perhaps related to tourists feeding elephants. Quantity of supplementary diet items (e.g., bananas, sugar cane, pumpkin) were positively correlated with FGM concentrations, glucose, fructosamine, and insulin. This study provides evidence that body condition, adrenal activity, metabolic markers, and lipid profiles in captive elephants may be affected by visitor numbers, work activities, and the amount of supplementary foods offered by tourists. Some activities appear to have negative (e.g., feeding), while others (e.g., exercise) may have positive effects on health and welfare. We conclude that camps adopting a more hands-off approach to tourism need to ensure elephants remain healthy by providing environments that encourage activity and rely on more natural diets or foraging.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-6576785
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2019
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-65767852019-06-28 Associations among tourist camp management, high and low tourist seasons, and welfare factors in female Asian elephants in Thailand Norkaew, Treepradab Brown, Janine L. Thitaram, Chatchote Bansiddhi, Pakkanut Somgird, Chaleamchat Punyapornwithaya, Veerasak Punturee, Khanittha Vongchan, Preeyanat Somboon, Nopphamas Khonmee, Jaruwan PLoS One Research Article This study investigated how camp management and tourist activities affect body condition, adrenocortical function, lipid profiles and metabolic status in female tourist elephants. We compared twice monthly serum insulin, glucose, fructosamine, total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein (LDL), high density lipoprotein (HDL), and fecal glucocorticoid metabolite (FGM) concentrations to body condition scores (BCS) at five camps with different management styles (e.g., tourist activities, work type, diet) between the High (November–February) and Low (March–October) tourist seasons. There were significant camp effects on health parameters, with BCS, TC, HDL, insulin and glucose being among the highest, and G:I being the lowest (less heathy) in elephants at an observation camp compared to those at camps where elephants received exercise by providing rides to tourists. Differences between High and Low tourist season months also were found for all measures, except TG and FGM concentrations. Both work time and walking distance were negatively correlated to glucose, fructosamine and insulin, while walking distance was negatively related to FGM concentrations. By contrast, positive associations were found between tourist number and BCS, TG, and insulin, perhaps related to tourists feeding elephants. Quantity of supplementary diet items (e.g., bananas, sugar cane, pumpkin) were positively correlated with FGM concentrations, glucose, fructosamine, and insulin. This study provides evidence that body condition, adrenal activity, metabolic markers, and lipid profiles in captive elephants may be affected by visitor numbers, work activities, and the amount of supplementary foods offered by tourists. Some activities appear to have negative (e.g., feeding), while others (e.g., exercise) may have positive effects on health and welfare. We conclude that camps adopting a more hands-off approach to tourism need to ensure elephants remain healthy by providing environments that encourage activity and rely on more natural diets or foraging. Public Library of Science 2019-06-17 /pmc/articles/PMC6576785/ /pubmed/31206564 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0218579 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
Norkaew, Treepradab
Brown, Janine L.
Thitaram, Chatchote
Bansiddhi, Pakkanut
Somgird, Chaleamchat
Punyapornwithaya, Veerasak
Punturee, Khanittha
Vongchan, Preeyanat
Somboon, Nopphamas
Khonmee, Jaruwan
Associations among tourist camp management, high and low tourist seasons, and welfare factors in female Asian elephants in Thailand
title Associations among tourist camp management, high and low tourist seasons, and welfare factors in female Asian elephants in Thailand
title_full Associations among tourist camp management, high and low tourist seasons, and welfare factors in female Asian elephants in Thailand
title_fullStr Associations among tourist camp management, high and low tourist seasons, and welfare factors in female Asian elephants in Thailand
title_full_unstemmed Associations among tourist camp management, high and low tourist seasons, and welfare factors in female Asian elephants in Thailand
title_short Associations among tourist camp management, high and low tourist seasons, and welfare factors in female Asian elephants in Thailand
title_sort associations among tourist camp management, high and low tourist seasons, and welfare factors in female asian elephants in thailand
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6576785/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31206564
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0218579
work_keys_str_mv AT norkaewtreepradab associationsamongtouristcampmanagementhighandlowtouristseasonsandwelfarefactorsinfemaleasianelephantsinthailand
AT brownjaninel associationsamongtouristcampmanagementhighandlowtouristseasonsandwelfarefactorsinfemaleasianelephantsinthailand
AT thitaramchatchote associationsamongtouristcampmanagementhighandlowtouristseasonsandwelfarefactorsinfemaleasianelephantsinthailand
AT bansiddhipakkanut associationsamongtouristcampmanagementhighandlowtouristseasonsandwelfarefactorsinfemaleasianelephantsinthailand
AT somgirdchaleamchat associationsamongtouristcampmanagementhighandlowtouristseasonsandwelfarefactorsinfemaleasianelephantsinthailand
AT punyapornwithayaveerasak associationsamongtouristcampmanagementhighandlowtouristseasonsandwelfarefactorsinfemaleasianelephantsinthailand
AT puntureekhanittha associationsamongtouristcampmanagementhighandlowtouristseasonsandwelfarefactorsinfemaleasianelephantsinthailand
AT vongchanpreeyanat associationsamongtouristcampmanagementhighandlowtouristseasonsandwelfarefactorsinfemaleasianelephantsinthailand
AT somboonnopphamas associationsamongtouristcampmanagementhighandlowtouristseasonsandwelfarefactorsinfemaleasianelephantsinthailand
AT khonmeejaruwan associationsamongtouristcampmanagementhighandlowtouristseasonsandwelfarefactorsinfemaleasianelephantsinthailand