Elephant Reintegration Trust, Port Alfred, South Africa.
Mammal Research Institute, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
PLoS One. 2022 Mar 24;17(3):e0264931. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0264931. eCollection 2022.
South Africa has many fenced reserves harbouring small to medium sized populations of African elephant (Loxodonta africana), most of which have been translocated. Elephants on fenced reserves may be exposed to various management interventions and practices (translocation, hunting, darting, high tourism impact, contraception programs, disruption due to infrastructure maintenance, etc.). These factors may impact the welfare of elephants. Poor elephant welfare may have serious consequences such as increased inter- and intra-species aggression that could result in fatalities. This is the first study to attempt to define behavioural and physiological welfare parameters for free-ranging elephants on small to medium sized reserves. The eight study sites incorporated reserves with different social structure combinations, elephant life-histories, reserve sizes, habitat, management, and tourism intensity. Data collection consisted of behavioural observations (10-minute videos) as well as faecal samples. By incorporating both behavioural and physiological (faecal glucocorticoid metabolite (fGCM) concentration) parameters, we aimed to investigate whether the two parameters showed similar trends. Five behavioural categories were identified (Arousal, Assessing, Ambivalent, Ambivalent/ Body care, and Frustrated behaviour), with various detailed behaviours demonstrated by the elephants that may indicate the influence of anthropogenic disturbance and possibly impact on animal welfare. The study showed significant differences between the selected detailed behaviours, behavioural categories and fGCM concentrations of elephants across the eight reserves. History seemed to be a decisive factor, as reserves with predominantly ex-captive elephants showed higher frequencies of certain behaviours as well as higher fGCM concentrations. Age, sex, reserve size and season were also found to contribute to our defined welfare indices and fGCM concentrations. This indicates that behavioural parameters, indicative of certain behavioural states, are valuable indicators of welfare, as supported by the physiological response of the elephants. The results also highlight the importance of taking multiple specified behaviours from a category into consideration when evaluating the welfare of elephants, to account for individual variation.
南非有许多围起来的保护区，里面有小到中型的非洲象（Loxodonta africana）种群，其中大多数是被转移过来的。围起来的保护区中的大象可能会受到各种管理干预和措施的影响（转移、狩猎、放箭、旅游业高度发达、避孕计划、基础设施维护造成的干扰等）。这些因素可能会影响大象的福利。较差的大象福利可能会带来严重的后果，例如增加种内和种间的攻击性，这可能导致死亡。这是第一项尝试定义自由放养的中小型保护区中大象的行为和生理福利参数的研究。这 8 个研究地点纳入了具有不同社会结构组合、大象生活史、保护区大小、栖息地、管理和旅游强度的保护区。数据收集包括行为观察（10 分钟的视频）和粪便样本。通过结合行为和生理（粪便皮质醇代谢物（fGCM）浓度）参数，我们旨在研究这两个参数是否显示出相似的趋势。确定了 5 种行为类别（觉醒、评估、矛盾、矛盾/身体护理和挫败行为），大象表现出各种详细的行为，这些行为可能表明人为干扰的影响，并可能对动物福利产生影响。研究表明，八个保护区的选定详细行为、行为类别和 fGCM 浓度之间存在显著差异。历史似乎是一个决定性因素，因为主要由前圈养大象组成的保护区显示出某些行为的频率更高，以及更高的 fGCM 浓度。年龄、性别、保护区大小和季节也被发现对我们定义的福利指数和 fGCM 浓度有影响。这表明，行为参数，指示某些行为状态，是福利的有价值的指标，正如大象的生理反应所支持的那样。研究结果还强调了在评估大象福利时，考虑从特定类别中选择多种特定行为的重要性，以考虑个体差异。
