# data[].attributes.body
1. Common diseases
-EHV hemorrhaging disease young elephants  non-specific clinical signs
-high mortality in calves under 5 for many unknown reasons   (pneumonia, gastro-intestinal, parasites), lack of milk
-foot and muscle conditions, just because of unique anatomy,
-trauma due to aggression
trunk injuries (flasid ) paralysis in trunk (cranial nerve trauma)
-colic (infection, EFV, sudden dietary changes, constipation)
-dental diseases
-kidney failure
-edema
-reproductive pathologies

2. Elephant fertility cycle
females : 10-12yrs sextually mature
6-12wks luteal phase.  4-6wks follicular.     2wks (receptive to mating)
lack of pregnancy can cause infertility
social relations affect too

males : testosterone
sperm quality, testes, affects their fertility
bull housed with females can lose interest
if the male hasn’t ejaculated in the wild, the sperm quality will be low
chemical contraception can affect the testes

3. Why do stereotypical behaviours occur in elephants?
They have high chance of performing stereotypical behaviours when
- spend time housed separately
- experienced inter-zoo transfers
- are Asian elephants
Low chance when they
- spend time with juvenile elephants
- spend time in larger social groups
- engaging with zoo staffs

4. Ex-circus animals
stereotypical behaviours are more likely with chained restraint
but, captive-born or whether they are imported from home-range does not affect stereotypical behaviour appearance

5. Monitoring tool
zoo keepers carry around spreadsheet
mental state/ behavioral activities day/night
all three sections looked at its behavior
1st section
2hr time slots 4 times a day
each elephant gets one minute of observation and ethogram
from the ethogram -
mark adjectives that is close to the state of the animal
2nd section
look at several elephants at once and tally behaviors
5min per elephant 4 times a day
3rd section
look at video or observe in-person
mark all behaviors observed in half-an-hour

6. EAZA legislations for elephants
biology, skin disorders, nutrition, everything is on there
- dystocia happens when they are not allowed to breed
- calcium deficiency causes trunk paralysis, dystocia
- population management in zoos
zoo legislation: different in every countrys
associations: trying to make a common guideline

7. Problems with elephant breeding and reproduction
-vdystocia more likely when they are having a first birth over age 20
because more pathological conditions in uterus etc, prolonged gestation
- low calcium can be a cause
- bad management

8. Free contact management vs protected contact management
-Free contanct Advantage: feeding, veterinary interventions w/o stressing the animals, monitoring closely.  Disadvantage: human safety
-In protected contact, there is a barrier
it can be used for bull elephants, aggressive elephants

9. Pododermatitis
Caused by obesity and hard surfaces
abnormal pressure on the foot
no evidence with pregnancy but might be related to weight?

10. EEGV
More severe in Asian elephants
human anti-viral may work but may not work
stress and pregnancy
trunk washes and PCR may be useful

11. Human-elephant conflict
Elephants are being pushed out of their habitat and some are destroying farm vegetables
in smaller villages and local areas, people are killed (India, Kenya)
In Kenya, elephants are killed, or poisoned

# data[].attributes.body
reaching, foraging, different substrates, toys, water, assorted items

# data[].attributes.body
1. Social structures of captive elephant herds, best population size?
Core elements are matriarchal, multi generational family groups varying in size from 2 to 16, usually related, adult females and their offspring. They form bonds that change in strength and quality over time depending on relationships and resources. They form fission-fusion societies where they fragment into smaller units but can re join depending on resource availability.

They acquire normal behaviours through social learning and helps influence their future social, reproductive, behavioural and maternal competence.

Bull elephants in the wild leave their family group at 10-20 years of age. This is a slow process where they join small all male groups and develop social bonds. Young males follow adult males in musth and learn reproductive behaviours.

In captivity has historically been unrelated elephants which leads to poor reproductive success, limits social learning and displaying social, behavioural, reproductive and maternal behaviours. This contributes to incompatibility and reduced reproductive success in captivity.

Having natural herd social structure is preferable. Long term plans define the purpose of their elephant herd and outlines structures in place to achieve appropriate groups structure e.g. stable matriarchal family groups or bachelor group.

Changing group structure can be useful. Herd dynamics change when hierarchies change e.g. new elephant being introduced, calf being born to a cow under consideration by other herd members. Introducing elephant to herd can bring life experience and behavioural diversity, stabilising another herd.

Geriatric animals can have a broad and diverse effect, non-breeding cows can have an important matriarchal role to help stabilise a herd or teach younger animals and they should remain within a herd throughout life.

Bulls need access to females throughout the year

2. Enclosure design

Breeding herds need 3 separate facilities with appropriate outdoor paddocks.

Minimum requirements-

Complex environments, multiple feeding stations, substrates, multi level feeders, varied topography, water features, mud wallows, dust baths, long term feeding

Social choice- no dead end areas where animals become trapped, space to get away from conspecifics and visual barriers

Multiple resources which should not be socially limiting- shade, water, food,

Should reflect local weather conditions

If possible enable free choice between indoor/outdoor areas most of the year

Designed with keeper health and safety in mind at the start

Overnight monitoring CCTV

To facilitate best practice husbandry

Stationing walls with access ports for husbandry, moving animals around, limited access for elephants to people

Boundaries

Concrete walls

Gates and doors

Electric fencing

Moats

Hard floors

Sand floors

Grass

Temp – 15-18 degrees

Ventilation and air changes

Natural lighting

3. Enrichment

Enhance activities where they interact together, large wallows, sand mound, pools
Need to use trunk, multiple feed devices, hanging food from ceiling
Fire hose with food pushed into gaps
Positive reinforcement training - also for health and welfare monitoring
Let them exhibit species specific behaviours, sand bathing, mud wallowing, provide sand to dust with, pool that is deep and large enough for elephants
Increase foraging - bury food in sand, large boomer ball

4. Health monitoring. What are the routine procedures?

Preventative and proactive care
Observations twice daily
Weight measurement for each individual
Calves weighed weekly
Combined with body condition scoring
Routine foot care
Faecal testing - collected 3-5 day period and analysed for parasites, bacteria
Blood sampling done twice a year
Create data base of normal values for each individual
Vaccination - cow pox - TAG recommended
also tetanus
oral examination
TB testing performed once a year using trunk wash
Culture and PCR is method to test TB

5. AI in elephants
All females irregular cycles caused by mismanagement - nutrition issues, lack of social stimulation, herd composition.
AI used for increasing genetic diversity - prevent inbreeding.
Semen brought from other collections.
Monitor cows ovulation, use sedation, ultrasound to know exactly when ovulation happens. Have to surges in hormone LH. AI normally done after first LH surge and 1 day after ovulation.
Can be surgical and non surgical.
Surgical invasive so usually avoided - success only 30%
non surgical has better success - uses endoscopy, place semen using this method. Use ultrasound to guide placement of semen in elephant.
Need specific placement which causes challenges.
Cannot do to elephants that have already given birth before - would have to do surgery - takes 4-6 weeks to heal.
AI can be useful when population is low. Can determine which gender they want to be born - has been done in elephants and rhinos in zoos.

6. Do females ever reject their offspring in the wild?

Has been seen in the wild, reject young from suckling when they require more than they can produce.
Baby elephants get stuck in watering hole so can be abandoned. Organisation collects abandoned babies in watering holes.

In zoos - inexperienced mothers, first time mothers, elephant doesn't always know what to do. Some abandon baby for a few hours.
Zoo in Germany - African elephant gave birth, no history, killed calf by stamping on calf, throwing calf around. Caused by stress or could have been used to stimulate baby to wake up. She had been previously aggressive.

7. What happens to the baby in birthing problems?
Dystocia
Veterinary intervention limited because of size of elephant calf and the anatomy of elephants reproductive tract.
The fetus or dam, sometimes both will die.
Non invasive medical treatment used - Ferguson reflex - leads to oxytocin contraction to help try to push the calf out.
Usually leave fetus. Sometimes fetus will mummify and stay in the dam. Doesn't cause harm to mother.

What are the requirements of the calves?
Need 10L of milk per day
weaned at 2 years old - can drink up until 10
Can stand within minutes of being born - need to be able to stand to drink
Learn all behaviours from observing mothers and conspecifics

8. How to do urinary progesterone monitoring?
Collect urine weekly after mating
Once pregnancy confirmed collect urine monthly to monitor hormone change.
Monitor progesterone using EIA
Progesterone increases steadily, peaks at 18th month and declines at 22nd month right before giving birth.

9. Benefit of captive elephants
Breeding programmes
Ex situ conservation
Research - behaviour, normal hormone levels, routine blood etc.
Education for public

10. Can zoos allow for all elephant behaviours
Most likely not
Not enough space for proper exploration, natural behaviours, smaller herds, unnatural herd composition, usually overweight, need more enrichment
Social needs aren't always met - e.g. males usually kept separately
When they lose a herd member they can't mourn as they would in the wild.
Don't die at a natural age - live longer in captivity
They can have more health issues due to this
Infant mortality
Adult mortality
Earlier sexual maturity
Aggression - increased likelihood when stereotypes develop
Lose fear of humans - can't be reintroduced to the wild - human/animal conflict in wild
Very intelligent so difficult to keep them mentally stimulated

# data[].attributes.body
1. What are common diseases in baby elephants and adults (free living vs captive)?
2. Elephant fertility cycle (male and female)
3. Why do stereotypical behaviors occur in elephants?  (captive born vs wild caught)
4. Ex-circus animals adaptation/behavior
5. What is the UK Elephant Welfare Group behavior monitoring tool?
6. EAZA legislations for elephants
7. Problems with elephant breeding and reproduction
8. Free contact management vs protected contact management
9. How is pododermatitis related to elephant pregnancy?
10. What is EEHV (Elephant Herpes Virus)?
11. Human-elephant conflict

# data[].attributes.body
EAZA, EEP, TAG

# data[].attributes.body
diet, biosecurity, enrichment, general health checks and frequency of checks, foot care

# data[].attributes.body
Lethargy, tuberculosis, loss of appetite, dystocia, swelling of tongue, EEHV

# data[].attributes.body
History?

# data[].attributes.body
pacing, rocking, swaying

# data[].attributes.body
using UK Elephant Welfare Group behavior monitoring tool