Stress and body condition are associated with climate and demography in Asian elephants
Open accessAbstract
Establishing links between ecological variation, physiological markers of stress and demography is crucial for understanding how and why changes in environmental conditions affect population dynamics, and may also play a key role for conservation efforts of endangered species. However, detailed longitudinal studies of long-lived species are rarely available. We test how two markers of stress and body condition vary through the year and are associated with climatic conditions and large-scale mortality and fertility variation in the world's largest semi-captive population of Asian elephants employed in the timber industry in Myanmar. Glucocorticoid metabolites (used as a proxy for stress levels in 75 elephants) and body weight (used as a proxy for condition in 116 elephants) were monitored monthly across a typical monsoon cycle and compared with birth and death patterns of the entire elephant population over half a century (n = 2350). Our results show seasonal variation in both markers of stress and condition. In addition, this variation is correlated with population-level demographic variables. Weight is inversely correlated with population mortality rates 1 month later, and glucocorticoid metabolites are negatively associated with birth rates. Weight shows a highly positive correlation with rainfall 1 month earlier. Determining the factors associated with demography may be key to species conservation by providing information about the correlates of mortality and fertility patterns. The unsustainability of the studied captive population has meant that wild elephants have been captured and tamed for work. By elucidating the correlates of demography in captive elephants, our results offer management solutions that could reduce the pressure on the wild elephant population in Myanmar.
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Comparable situations to those in tourist venues exist for logging, temple, and circus elephants.
“There is little doubt that comparable situations exist for logging (54), temple (55, 56), and circus (57) elephants as well.”
From Comparison of animal welfare assessment tools and methodologies: need for an effective approach for captive elephants in Asia (2024) · cites this paper as [54]
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- Authors
- Mumby, H. S., Mar, K. U., Thitaram, C., Courtiol, A., Towiboon, P., Min-Oo, Z., Htut-Aung, Y., Brown, J. L., & Lummaa, V.
- Affiliations
- University of Sheffield (GB)
- Chiang Mai University (TH)
- Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (DE)
- Myanmar Timber Enterprise (MM)
- Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (US)
- Corresponding author
- Mumby, Hannah S.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Conservation Physiology
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2015
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- cov030
- ISSN
- 2051-1434 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4778474
- OpenAlex
- W2220125945
- Cited by
- 72
- References
- 68
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 2
- FWCI
- 3.32
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Conservation Physiology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Informationszentrum Lebenswissenschaften (ZB MED) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
- Smithsonian Digital Repository (Smithsonian Institution) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Myanmar Timber Elephant
- Nando Peretti Foundation
- Rufford Foundation
- European Research Council
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Marine animal studies overview
- Keywords
- Asian elephant, glucocorticoid metabolites, stress physiology, body condition, body weight, seasonal variation, monsoon cycle, rainfall, mortality, fertility, birth rate, demography, captive elephants, timber industry, wildlife trade, conservation management, Myanmar
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