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Cited by 82Animal Behavior and Welfare StudiesWildlife Ecology and ConservationPrimate Behavior and Ecology

Determining connections between the daily lives of zoo elephants and their welfare: an epidemiological approach

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Meehan, Cheryl L., Mench, Joy A., Carlstead, Kathy, Hogan, Jennifer N.·2016·PLOS ONE
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0158124PMC PMC4945044
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Abstract

Concerns about animal welfare increasingly shape people's views about the acceptability of keeping animals for food production, biomedical research, and in zoos. The field of animal welfare science has developed over the past 50 years as a method of investigating these concerns via research that assesses how living in human-controlled environments influences the behavior, health and affective states of animals. Initially, animal welfare research focused on animals in agricultural settings, but the field has expanded to zoos because good animal welfare is essential to zoos' mission of promoting connections between animals and visitors and raising awareness of conservation issues. A particular challenge for zoos is ensuring good animal welfare for long-lived, highly social species like elephants. Our main goal in conducting an epidemiological study of African (Loxodonta africana) and Asian (Elephas maximus) elephant welfare in 68 accredited North American zoos was to understand the prevalence of welfare indicators in the population and determine the aspects of an elephant's zoo environment, social life and management that are most important to prevent and reduce a variety of welfare problems. In this overview, we provide a summary of the findings of the nine papers in the collection titled: Epidemiological Investigations of North American Zoo Elephant Welfare with a focus on the life history, social, housing, and management factors found to be associated with particular aspects of elephant welfare, including the performance of abnormal behavior, foot and joint problems, recumbence, walking rates, and reproductive health issues. Social and management factors were found to be important for multiple indicators of welfare, while exhibit space was found to be less influential than expected. This body of work results from the largest prospective zoo-based animal welfare study conducted to date and sets in motion the process of using science-based welfare benchmarks to optimize care of zoo elephants.

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References 66 · Cited by 82

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Authors
Meehan, C. L., Mench, J. A., Carlstead, K., & Hogan, J. N.
Affiliations
University of California, Davis (US)
Corresponding author
Meehan, Cheryl L.
ORCID
Venue
PLOS ONE
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Published
2016-07-14
Volume
11
Issue
7
Pages
e0158124
ISSN
1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0158124
PMC
PMC4945044
OpenAlex
W2464323207
Cited by
82
References
66
Citations by year
2025: 10 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 5
FWCI
16.40
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)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • Institute of Museum and Library Services (LG-25-10-0033-10)
  • Columbus Zoo and Aquarium
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
Keywords
Loxodonta africana, Asian elephant, abnormal behavior, reproductive health, social factors, zoo management, welfare indicators
MeSH terms
Animals, Animal Husbandry, Animal Welfare, Animals, Zoo, Behavior, Animal, Elephants, Environment, Housing, Animal, Social Environment

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