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Elephant Management in North American Zoos: Environmental Enrichment, Feeding, Exercise, and Training

Greco, Brian J ; Meehan, Cheryl L ; Miller, Lance J ; Shepherdson, David J ; Morfeld, Kari A ; Andrews, Jeff ; Baker, Anne M ; Carlstead, Kathy ; Mench, Joy A Cameron, Elissa Z.

PloS one, 2016-07, Vol.11 (7), p.e0152490-e0152490 [Periódico revisado por pares]

United States: Public Library of Science

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Título:
Elephant Management in North American Zoos: Environmental Enrichment, Feeding, Exercise, and Training
Autor: Greco, Brian J ; Meehan, Cheryl L ; Miller, Lance J ; Shepherdson, David J ; Morfeld, Kari A ; Andrews, Jeff ; Baker, Anne M ; Carlstead, Kathy ; Mench, Joy A
Cameron, Elissa Z.
Assuntos: Animal husbandry ; Animal Husbandry - standards ; Animal sciences ; Animal training ; Animal Welfare - standards ; Animals ; Animals, Zoo ; Aquariums ; Behavior ; Biodiversity ; Biology and Life Sciences ; Diversity indices ; Ecology and Environmental Sciences ; Elephantidae ; Elephants ; Elephants - physiology ; Elephas maximus ; Enrichment ; Environment ; Environmental management ; Feeding ; Feeding Behavior - physiology ; Female ; Food ; Food and nutrition ; Generalized linear models ; Health care ; Housing, Animal - standards ; Husbandry ; Information management ; Loxodonta africana ; Male ; Management ; Mathematical analysis ; Medicine and Health Sciences ; North America ; Physical Conditioning, Animal - physiology ; Physiological aspects ; Physiology ; Polls & surveys ; Population statistics ; Proboscidea ; Research and Analysis Methods ; Schedules ; Social Environment ; Species diversity ; Stimuli ; Training ; United States ; Zoo animals ; Zoology ; Zoos
É parte de: PloS one, 2016-07, Vol.11 (7), p.e0152490-e0152490
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Competing Interests: LM is affiliated with the Chicago Zoological Society – Brookfield Zoo (an AZA-accredited zoo), DS is affiliated with Oregon Zoo (an AZA-Accredited zoo), and JA is affiliated with Busch Gardens (an AZA-accredited zoo). KC was employed by the Honolulu Zoo (an AZA-accredited zoo) at the time of the study. KM is affiliated with the Smithsonian National Zoo (an AZA-accredited zoo) and was employed by the Lincoln Children’s Zoo (an AZA-accredited zoo) at the time of the study. JM is a member of the PLOS ONE Animal Research Advisory Group. CM and BG are affiliated with AWARE Institute. AWARE Institute is a commercial entity founded by CM in 2014 and provides animal welfare assessment, research and education services to zoos and aquariums. These interests do not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials, as detailed online in the guide for authors.
Conceived and designed the experiments: CLM BJG JA KC LJM DJS JAM KAM AB. Performed the experiments: CLM. Analyzed the data: BJG LJM CLM. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: BJG CLM LJM JAM. Wrote the paper: BJG CLM JAM LJM DJS.
Descrição: The management of African (Loxodonta africana) and Asian (Elephas maximus) elephants in zoos involves a range of practices including feeding, exercise, training, and environmental enrichment. These practices are necessary to meet the elephants' nutritional, healthcare, and husbandry needs. However, these practices are not standardized, resulting in likely variation among zoos as well as differences in the way they are applied to individual elephants within a zoo. To characterize elephant management in North America, we collected survey data from zoos accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, developed 26 variables, generated population level descriptive statistics, and analyzed them to identify differences attributable to sex and species. Sixty-seven zoos submitted surveys describing the management of 224 elephants and the training experiences of 227 elephants. Asian elephants spent more time managed (defined as interacting directly with staff) than Africans (mean time managed: Asians = 56.9%; Africans = 48.6%; p<0.001), and managed time increased by 20.2% for every year of age for both species. Enrichment, feeding, and exercise programs were evaluated using diversity indices, with mean scores across zoos in the midrange for these measures. There were an average of 7.2 feedings every 24-hour period, with only 1.2 occurring during the nighttime. Feeding schedules were predictable at 47.5% of zoos. We also calculated the relative use of rewarding and aversive techniques employed during training interactions. The population median was seven on a scale from one (representing only aversive stimuli) to nine (representing only rewarding stimuli). The results of our study provide essential information for understanding management variation that could be relevant to welfare. Furthermore, the variables we created have been used in subsequent elephant welfare analyses.
Editor: United States: Public Library of Science
Idioma: Inglês

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Elephant Management in North American Zoos: Environmental Enrichment, Feeding, Exercise, and Training

Greco, Brian J ; Meehan, Cheryl L ; Miller, Lance J ; Shepherdson, David J ; Morfeld, Kari A ; Andrews, Jeff ; Baker, Anne M ; Carlstead, Kathy ; Mench, Joy A Cameron, Elissa Z.

United States: Public Library of Science

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