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80-year-old elephants!
Elephants are smart animals often put in danger because of their large ivory tusks. Left alone, however, these amazing creatures can live for more than 80 years! Through innovative graphics and colorful photographs bringing the lives of these stunning animals into sharp focus, readers explore the differences between Asian and African elephants, their diets, and how they live their lives in different parts of the world.
Book
Elephant House
In Elephant House, photographer Dick Blau and historian Nigel Rothfels offer a thought-provoking study of the Oregon Zoo's Asian Elephant Building and the daily routines of its residents—human and pachyderm alike. Without an agenda beyond a desire to build a deeper understanding of this enigmatic environment, Elephant House is the result of the authors' unique creative collaboration and explores the relationships between captive elephants and their human caregivers. Blau's evocative photographs are complex and challenging, while Rothfels's text offers a scholarly and personal response to the questions that surround elephants and captivity. Elephant House does not take sides in the debate over zoos but focuses instead on the bonds of attentiveness between the animals and their keepers. Accompanied by a foreword from retired elephant keeper Mike Keele, Elephant House is a frank, fascinating look at the evolving world of elephant husbandry.
eBook
Baby elephants
Entertaining photographs of baby elephants playing, swimming, and rolling in mud highlight this introduction to elephants. Basic facts feature the three main kinds of elephants and simple explains how calves are born, what their bodies are like, how they change as they grow, and what life is like in the herd.
Book
Visual Cues Given by Humans Are Not Sufficient for Asian Elephants
Recent research suggests that domesticated species - due to artificial selection by humans for specific, preferred behavioral traits - are better than wild animals at responding to visual cues given by humans about the location of hidden food. \\Although this seems to be supported by studies on a range of domesticated (including dogs, goats and horses) and wild (including wolves and chimpanzees) animals, there is also evidence that exposure to humans positively influences the ability of both wild and domesticated animals to follow these same cues. Here, we test the performance of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) on an object choice task that provides them with visual-only cues given by humans about the location of hidden food. Captive elephants are interesting candidates for investigating how both domestication and human exposure may impact cue-following as they represent a non-domesticated species with almost constant human interaction. As a group, the elephants (n = 7) in our study were unable to follow pointing, body orientation or a combination of both as honest signals of food location. They were, however, able to follow vocal commands with which they were already familiar in a novel context, suggesting the elephants are able to follow cues if they are sufficiently salient. Although the elephants' inability to follow the visual cues provides partial support for the domestication hypothesis, an alternative explanation is that elephants may rely more heavily on other sensory modalities, specifically olfaction and audition. Further research will be needed to rule out this alternative explanation.
Journal Article
5 elephants
Provides readers with some fascinating elephant facts and figures, as well as introducing some of the serious challenges that wild and captive elephants face.
Book
Performance on a Means-End Task by Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus) in a Positive Reinforcement-Based Protected-Contact Setting
The current study tested six Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) on a means-end behavioral task of pulling a support to retrieve a distant object; a systematic replication of the Irie-Sugimoto et al. (2008) study. The paradigm was somewhat modified from the original research to accommodate a protected contact setting, reduce the total number of trials, and one condition was excluded. Each elephant was tested on three conditions of increasing difficulty. Specifically, subjects were asked to select from a choice of two trays where one intact tray was baited with a highly-valued produce item and the other was A) empty; B) baited adjacent to the tray; and C) baited on the far side of a break in the tray. Results indicated that the elephants met or exceeded the criteria established for conditions A and B, but performed at chance levels on condition C. These data are contrasted with those of the original study where one elephant met criteria for all three conditions. We discuss potentially relevant variables affecting performance including differences in visual access to the trays, motivation levels, and training style.
Journal Article
Development of gut microbiota composition in captive Asian elephants: a year-long analysis
The establishment of gut microbiota is vital for the health and development of elephant calves, especially during their first year of life. This study investigates the transformation of the gut microbiome in captive Asian elephant calves, focusing the influence of maternal milk and subsequent dietary transitions on microbial colonization. A single meconium was collected at birth, followed by monthly fresh fecal samples during the first year. Mothers’ fecal samples were also collected when calves reached three months of age. Gut microbiota profiling was conducted using 16 S rRNA gene sequencing. Meconium exhibited a diverse microbiota with moderate richness at birth. Richness subsequently declined in the monthly fecal samples, reaching its lowest point by three months of age. Firmicutes, Actinobacteriota, and Bacteroidota were the dominant bacterial phyla throughout the first year. A major shift was observed around 7 to 8 months of age with emergence of the archaeal genus
Methanobrevibacter
from phylum Euryarchaeota, which subsequently declined by 11 to 12 months. By this age, the calf microbial community had become more similar to that of adult elephants; however, species richness and diversity remained lower, indicating that microbial maturation was still ongoing. These findings advance our understanding of gut microbiota development in elephant calves and underscore the critical role of dietary management in promoting gut health and survival, providing essential data for captive conservation and management strategies.
Journal Article