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Cited by 76Wildlife Ecology and ConservationMarine animal studies overviewAnimal Behavior and Welfare Studies

Causes and correlates of calf mortality in captive Asian elephants (Elephas maximus)

Open access
Mar, Khyne U., Lahdenperä, Mirkka, Lummaa, Virpi·2012·PLoS ONE
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0032335PMC PMC3291566
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Abstract

Juvenile mortality is a key factor influencing population growth rate in density-independent, predation-free, well-managed captive populations. Currently at least a quarter of all Asian elephants live in captivity, but both the wild and captive populations are unsustainable with the present fertility and calf mortality rates. Despite the need for detailed data on calf mortality to manage effectively populations and to minimize the need for capture from the wild, very little is known of the causes and correlates of calf mortality in Asian elephants. Here we use the world's largest multigenerational demographic dataset on a semi-captive population of Asian elephants compiled from timber camps in Myanmar to investigate the survival of calves (n = 1020) to age five born to captive-born mothers (n = 391) between 1960 and 1999. Mortality risk varied significantly across different ages and was higher for males at any age. Maternal reproductive history was associated with large differences in both stillbirth and liveborn mortality risk: first-time mothers had a higher risk of calf loss as did mothers producing another calf soon (<3.7 years) after a previous birth, and when giving birth at older age. Stillbirth (4%) and pre-weaning mortality (25.6%) were considerably lower than those reported for zoo elephants and used in published population viability analyses. A large proportion of deaths were caused by accidents and lack of maternal milk/calf weakness which both might be partly preventable by supplementary feeding of mothers and calves and work reduction of high-risk mothers. Our results on Myanmar timber elephants with an extensive keeping system provide an important comparison to compromised survivorship reported in zoo elephants. They have implications for improving captive working elephant management systems in range countries and for refining population viability analyses with realistic parameter values in order to predict future population size of the Asian elephant.

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  • The elephant population in zoos is generally not sustainable without imports from the wild.

    “The elephant population in zoos is generally not sustainable without imports from the wild (Wiese, 2000;Hutchins & Keele, 2006;Mar, Lahdenperä & Lummaa, 2012;Kurt, 2014) due to the poor reproductive success and low survivorship of captive elephants, who suffer from a reduced median lifespan as well as a higher mortality rate than their free-ranging and semi-captive counterparts (Clubb et al., 2009”

    From Continuing challenges of elephant captivity: the captive environment, health issues, and welfare implications (2024) · cites this paper as Mar, Lahdenperä & Lummaa, 2012

    The Introduction says many captive Asian elephant populations face decline because of low fertility and high calf mortality, and links sustainable management to minimizing capture from the wild. The Discussion reports high calf mortality in zoos, but does not establish that zoo populations generally require imports from the wild to persist. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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2 of the 37 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. [11]Moss CJ Croze H Lee PC 2011 The Amboseli elephants: A long-term perspectives on a long-lived mammal Chicago The University of Chicago Press
  2. [15]Aung TU Nyunt TU 2001 A country study on Asian elephant in Myanmar. Baker I Kashio M Giants on our hands: proceedings of the international workshop of the domesticated Asian Elephant Bangkok, Thailand Dharmasarn Co. Ltd 89 101
  3. [37]Hamel S Côté SD Festa-Bianchet M 2010 Maternal characteristics, environment, and costs of reproduction in female mountain goat. Ecology 91 2034 2043 20715626

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Authors
Mar, K. U., Lahdenperä, M., & Lummaa, V.
Affiliations
  • University of Sheffield (GB)
  • University of Turku (FI)
  • Institute for Advanced Study (DE)
Corresponding author
Lummaa, Virpi
ORCID
Venue
PLoS ONE
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Published
2012-03-01
Volume
7
Issue
3
Pages
e32335
ISSN
1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0032335
PMC
PMC3291566
OpenAlex
W1972977320
Cited by
76
References
37
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 4
FWCI
3.97
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) (acceptedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Suomen Kulttuurirahasto
  • Koneen Säätiö
  • Natural Environment Research Council (NE/G007330/1)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Marine animal studies overview
  • Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
Keywords
Asian elephant, calf mortality, captive elephants, stillbirth, pre-weaning mortality, maternal reproductive history, sex differences in mortality, population viability analysis, Myanmar
MeSH terms
Algorithms, Animals, Animals, Zoo, Myanmar, Demography, Elephants, Female, Male, Mortality, Population Dynamics, Pregnancy, Pregnancy, Animal, Probability, Reproduction, Time Factors, Models, Statistical, Stillbirth, Endangered Species

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