Assessing the Psychological Priorities for Optimising Captive Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus) Welfare
Open accessAbstract
The welfare status of elephants under human care has been a contentious issue for two decades or more in numerous western countries. Much effort has gone into assessing the welfare of captive elephants at individual and population levels with little consensus having been achieved in relation to both the welfare requirements of captive elephants, or their absolute welfare status. A methodology capable of identifying the psychological priorities of elephants would greatly assist in both managing and assessing captive elephant welfare. Here, a Delphi-based Animal Welfare Priority Identification System© (APWIS©) is trialled to evaluate the reliability of the methodology and to determine the welfare significance of individual behaviours and cognitive processes for Asian elephants (Elaphus maximus). APWIS© examines the motivational characteristics, evolutionary significance and established welfare impacts of individual behaviours and cognitive processes of each species being assessed. The assessment carried out here indicates appetitive behaviours essential for survival in the wild, together species-specific social and cognitive opportunities are likely to be important to the welfare of Asian elephant in captivity. The output of this assessment, for the first time, provides comprehensive species-specific psychological/welfare priorities for Asian elephants that should be used to inform husbandry guidelines, habitat design and management strategies and can also provide a valuable reference tool for Asian elephant welfare assessment. The effective application of these insights could lead to substantive improvements in captive Asian elephant welfare.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Previously established behavioral measures for captive elephants and welfare factors associated with tourist camps can be integrated and adapted for further testing.
“Previously established behavioral measures for captive elephants (23, 101, 102) and welfare factors associated with tourist camps can be integrated and adapted for further testing.”
From Comparison of animal welfare assessment tools and methodologies: need for an effective approach for captive elephants in Asia (2024) · cites this paper as [102]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
The genetical evolution of social behaviour. I
Hamilton, W. D. (1964) · Journal of Theoretical Biology · doi:10.1016/0022-5193(64)90038-4 · Cited by 15,725 · see citing works
The Evolution of Reciprocal Altruism
Trivers, R. L. (1971) · The Quarterly Review of Biology · doi:10.1086/406755 · Cited by 11,010 · see citing works
An Experimental Application of the DELPHI Method to the Use of Experts
Dalkey, N., & Helmer, O. (1963) · Management Science · doi:10.1287/mnsc.9.3.458 · Cited by 6,061 · see citing works
The genetical evolution of social behaviour. II
Hamilton, W. D. O. (1964) · Journal of Theoretical Biology · doi:10.1016/0022-5193(64)90039-6 · Cited by 4,158 · see citing works
A Scientific Conception of Animal Welfare that Reflects Ethical Concerns
Fraser, D. J., Weary, D. M., Pajor, E. A., & Milligan, B. N. (1997) · Animal Welfare · doi:10.1017/s0962728600019795 · Cited by 1,066 · see citing works
From an animal's point of view: Motivation, fitness, and animal welfare
Dawkins, M. S. (1990) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x00077104 · Cited by 1,017 · see citing works
Updating Animal Welfare Thinking: Moving beyond the “Five Freedoms” towards “A Life Worth Living”
Mellor, D. (2016) · Animals · doi:10.3390/ani6030021 · Cited by 948 · see citing works
An integrative and functional framework for the study of animal emotion and mood
Mendl, M., Burman, O. H. P., & Paul, E. S. (2010) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2010.0303 · Cited by 944 · see citing works
Mendl, M., Burman, O. H. P., Parker, R. M. A., & Paul, E. S. (2009) · Applied Animal Behaviour Science · doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2009.02.023 · Cited by 763 · see citing works
Mellor, D., & Beausoleil, N. (2015) · Animal Welfare · doi:10.7120/09627286.24.3.241 · Cited by 627 · see citing works
The notion of ethological ‘need’, models of motivation and animal welfare
Hughes, B. O., & Duncan, I. J. H. (1988) · Animal Behaviour · doi:10.1016/s0003-3472(88)80110-6 · Cited by 514 · see citing works
Battery hens name their price: Consumer demand theory and the measurement of ethological ‘needs’
Dawkins, M. S. (1983) · Animal Behaviour · doi:10.1016/s0003-3472(83)80026-8 · Cited by 416 · see citing works
Why is there no simple way of measuring animal welfare?
Mason, G., & Mendi, M. (1993) · Animal Welfare · doi:10.1017/s0962728600016092 · Cited by 391 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Analysis of welfare assessments can provide insights into likely welfare impacts of management priorities and habitat design, but such an approach is inevitably constrained by the challenges inherent in the nature of welfare assessments, see [4,6,9,10,15,16], as well as the nature of the pre‐ existing management condi…”
BackgroundDawkins, M. S. (1980) · doi:10.1007/978-94-009-5905-7 · Cited by 379 · see citing works
Behavioural deprivation: A central problem in animal welfare
Dawkins, M. S. (1988) · Applied Animal Behaviour Science · doi:10.1016/0168-1591(88)90047-0 · Cited by 362 · see citing works
A new animal welfare concept based on allostasis
Korte, S. M., Olivier, B., & Koolhaas, J. M. (2007) · Physiology & Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2006.10.018 · Cited by 340 · see citing works
‘Pleasures’,'Pains’ and Animal Welfare: Toward a Natural History of Affect
Fraser, D., & Duncan, I. J. H. (1998) · Animal Welfare · doi:10.1017/s0962728600020935 · Cited by 335 · see citing works
Animal welfare: At the interface between science and society
Ohl, F., & van der Staay, F. J. (2011) · The Veterinary Journal · doi:10.1016/j.tvjl.2011.05.019 · Cited by 280 · see citing works
Dawkins, M. S. (1998) · The Quarterly Review of Biology · doi:10.1086/420307 · Cited by 263 · see citing works
Scientific assessment of animal welfare
Hemsworth, P., Mellor, D., Cronin, G., & Tilbrook, A. (2015) · New Zealand Veterinary Journal · doi:10.1080/00480169.2014.966167 · Cited by 252 · see citing works
Assessing the Importance of Natural Behavior for Animal Welfare
Bracke, M. B. M., & Hopster, H. (2006) · Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10806-005-4493-7 · Cited by 249 · see citing works
Welfare, Stress, and the Evolution of Feelings
Broom, D. M. (1998) · Advances in the study of behavior · doi:10.1016/s0065-3454(08)60369-1 · Cited by 229 · see citing works
The implications of cognitive processes for animal welfare
Duncan, I. J. H., & Petherick, J. C. (1991) · Journal of Animal Science · doi:10.2527/1991.69125017x · Cited by 207 · see citing works
Assessing animal welfare: different philosophies, different scientific approaches
Fraser, D. J. (2009) · Zoo Biology · doi:10.1002/zoo.20253 · Cited by 173 · see citing works
On Comparing the Behaviour of Zoo Housed Animals with Wild Conspecifics as a Welfare Indicator
Veasey, J. S., Waran, N. K., & Young, R. J. (1996) · Animal Welfare · doi:10.1017/s0962728600018297 · Cited by 173 · see citing works
Self-citationHow should the psychological well‐being of zoo elephants be objectively investigated?
Mason, G. J., & Veasey, J. S. (2009) · Zoo Biology · doi:10.1002/zoo.20256 · Cited by 159 · see citing works
Self-citationThe Anatomy of Motivation: An Evolutionary-Ecological Approach
Aunger, R. V., & Curtis, V. A. (2013) · Biological Theory · doi:10.1007/s13752-013-0101-7 · Cited by 153 · see citing works
An Evolutionary Theory of Human Motivation
Bernard, L. C., Mills, M. E., Swenson, L. C., & Walsh, R. P. (2005) · Genetic Social and General Psychology Monographs · doi:10.3200/mono.131.2.129-184 · Cited by 143 · see citing works
Changing concepts of farm animal welfare: bridging the gap between applied and basic research
Rushen, J. (2003) · Applied Animal Behaviour Science · doi:10.1016/s0168-1591(02)00281-2 · Cited by 129 · see citing works
Concepts in the care and welfare of captive elephants
VEASEY, J. (2006) · International Zoo Yearbook · doi:10.1111/j.1748-1090.2006.00063.x · Cited by 119 · see citing works
Self-citationShoshani, J., & Eisenberg, J. F. (1982) · Mammalian Species · doi:10.2307/3504045 · Cited by 118 · see citing works
Morfeld, K. A., Meehan, C. L., Hogan, J. N., & Brown, J. L. (2016) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0155146 · Cited by 114 · see citing works
Poultry welfare: Science or subjectivity?
Duncan, I. J. H. (2002) · British Poultry Science · doi:10.1080/0007166021000025109 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
Veasey, J. S., Waran, N. K., & Young, R. J. (1996) · Animal Welfare · doi:10.1017/s0962728600018571 · Cited by 103 · see citing works
Self-citationGreco, B. J., Meehan, C. L., Hogan, J. N., Leighty, K. A., Mellen, J., Mason, G. J., & Mench, J. A. (2016) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0144276 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
In pursuit of peak animal welfare; the need to prioritize the meaningful over the measurable
Veasey, J. S. (2017) · Zoo Biology · doi:10.1002/zoo.21390 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
Self-citationRees, P. A. (2008) · Zoo Biology · doi:10.1002/zoo.20200 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
Meehan, C. L., Mench, J. A., Carlstead, K., & Hogan, J. N. (2016) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0158124 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
Miller, M. A., Hogan, J. N., & Meehan, C. L. (2016) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0155223 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Greco, B. J., Meehan, C. L., Miller, L. J., Shepherdson, D. J., Morfeld, K. A., Andrews, J., Baker, A. M., Carlstead, K., & Mench, J. A. (2016) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0152490 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
A survey of elephant husbandry and foot health in North American zoos
Lewis, K. D., Shepherdson, D. J., Owens, T. M., & Keele, M. (2009) · Zoo Biology · doi:10.1002/zoo.20291 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Holdgate, M. R., Meehan, C. L., Hogan, J. N., Miller, L. J., Soltis, J., Andrews, J., & Shepherdson, D. J. (2016) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0150331 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
Williams, E., Chadwick, C., Yon, L., & Asher, L. (2018) · Animal Welfare · doi:10.7120/09627286.27.3.235 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
What do population-level welfare indices suggest about the well-being of zoo elephants?
Mason, G. J., & Veasey, J. S. (2010) · Zoo Biology · doi:10.1002/zoo.20303 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Self-citationThe sizes of elephant groups in zoos: implications for elephant welfare
Rees, P. A. (2009) · Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science · doi:10.1080/10888700802536699 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Bracke, M. B. M., Spruijt, B. M., & Metz, J. H. M. (1999) · Socio-Environmental Systems Modeling · doi:10.18174/njas.v47i3.468 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
An Overview Of Foot Conditions in Asian And African Elephants
Fowler, M. E. (2000) · doi:10.1002/9780470292150.ch1 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
(2000) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9780470292150 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
How should the psychological welfare of zoo elephants be investigated
Mason, G. J., & Veasey, J. S. (2008) · The Atrium (University of Guelph) · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Self-citationIdentifying design priorities for optimal welfare
Veasey, J. S. (2019) · doi:10.13140/rg.2.2.10083.40488 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- [5]Clubb R. Mason G.A. Review of the Welfare of Elephants in European Zoos RSPCA Horsham, UK 2002
- [26]FAWC Annual Review 2009–2010 Farm Animal Welfare Council London, UK 2010
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Assessing measures of animal welfare
Browning, H. (2022) · Biology & Philosophy · doi:10.1007/s10539-022-09862-1 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Welfare assessment tools in zoos: from theory to practice
Jones, N., Sherwen, S. L., Robbins, R., McLelland, D. J., & Whittaker, A. L. (2022) · Veterinary Sciences · doi:10.3390/vetsci9040170 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Improving welfare assessment in aquaculture
Browning, H. (2023) · Frontiers in Veterinary Science · doi:10.3389/fvets.2023.1060720 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Webber, S. E., Carter, M., Smith, W., & Vetere, F. (2020) · Designing Interactive Systems Conference · doi:10.1145/3357236.3395559 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Welfare Through Competence: A Framework for Animal-Centric Technology Design
Webber, S. E., Cobb, M., & Coe, J. C. (2022) · Frontiers in Veterinary Science · doi:10.3389/fvets.2022.885973 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Veasey, J. S. (2022) · Zoo Biology · doi:10.1002/zoo.21677 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Self-citationPublic Feeding Interactions as Enrichment for Three Zoo-Housed Elephants
Fernandez, E. J., Upchurch, B., & Hawkes, N. C. (2021) · Animals · doi:10.3390/ani11061689 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Identification of Animal-Based Welfare Indicators in Captive Reptiles: A Delphi Consultation Survey
Whittaker, A. L., Golder-Dewar, B., Triggs, J. L., Sherwen, S. L., & McLelland, D. J. (2021) · Animals · doi:10.3390/ani11072010 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Veasey, J. S. (2020) · Animals · doi:10.3390/ani10091536 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Self-citationGlaeser, S. S., Shepherdson, D., Lewis, K., Prado, N., Brown, J. L., Lee, B., & Wielebnowski, N. (2021) · Animals · doi:10.3390/ani11092566 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Longitudinal improvements in zoo-housed elephant welfare: a case study at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo
Finch, K., Sach, F., Fitzpatrick, M., Masters, N., & Rowden, L. J. (2020) · Animals · doi:10.3390/ani10112029 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Doyle, C., Rally, H., O’Brien, L., Tennison, M., Marino, L., & Jacobs, B. (2024) · PeerJ · doi:10.7717/peerj.18161 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Zookeepers’ Perception of Zoo Canid Welfare and its Effect on Job Satisfaction, Worldwide
Riggio, G., Pirrone, F., Lunghini, E., Gazzano, A., & Mariti, C. (2020) · Animals · doi:10.3390/ani10050916 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Impacts of socialization on bull Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) stereotypical behavior
Readyhough, T. S., Joseph, S., Davis, M., Moresco, A., & Schreier, A. L. (2022) · Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens · doi:10.3390/jzbg3010010 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Circus Animal Welfare: analysis through a five-domain approach
Mota‐Rojas, D., Ghezzi, M. D., Domínguez-Oliva, A., Vega, L. T. D. L., Boscato-Funes, L., Torres-Bernal, F., & Mora‐Medina, P. (2022) · Journal of Animal Behaviour and Biometeorology · doi:10.31893/jabb.22021 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Finch, K., Sach, F., Fitzpatrick, M., & Rowden, L. J. (2021) · Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens · doi:10.3390/jzbg2010008 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Ghimire, R., Brown, J. L., Thitaram, C., & Bansiddhi, P. (2024) · Frontiers in Veterinary Science · doi:10.3389/fvets.2024.1370909 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Bartlett, A., Grinsted, L., & Freeman, M. S. (2023) · Animals · doi:10.3390/ani13132147 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Manning, P., Dawson, E., Tholander, C., & Bonato, M. (2023) · Applied Animal Behaviour Science · doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2023.106007 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Bruno, K., Hubbard, C., & Lynch, E. C. (2023) · Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens · doi:10.3390/jzbg4010010 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Development of a welfare assessment tool for tourist camp elephants in Asia
Ghimire, R., Brown, J. L., Thitaram, C., Glaeser, S. S., Lampang, K. N., Kulnanan, P., & Bansiddhi, P. (2024) · PeerJ · doi:10.7717/peerj.18370 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Towards Reciprocity: Mediating Human-Nature Relations Through HCI
Perera, P., Cumbo, B. J., Bidwell, N. J., Vella, K., Webber, S. E., Zhang, H., Wadley, G., Paay, J., Morrison, A., Giraldo, C., et al. (2025) · Australian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (OzCHI) · doi:10.1145/3764687.3769939 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Kopnina, H., & Baker, L. (2023) · Society and Animals · doi:10.1163/15685306-bja10126 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Green, J., Schmidt-Burbach, J., & Hartley-Backhouse, L. (2025) · Frontiers in Ethology · doi:10.3389/fetho.2025.1532995 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Bengoa, V. E. P., & Manteca, X. (2025) · Animals · doi:10.3390/ani15172473 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Systematic iterative design of interactive devices for animals
Hirskyj-Douglas, I. (2023) · Interaction Studies Social Behaviour and Communication in Biological and Artificial Systems · doi:10.1075/is.22045.hir · Cited by 2 · see citing works
An Autonomous Electronic Zoological Feeder
Tripathi, S., Dudhane, A., & Kalra, S. (2021) · doi:10.1109/icsc53193.2021.9673333 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Behaviour and Welfare Impacts of Releasing Elephants from Overnight Tethers: A Zimbabwean Case Study
Williams, E., Clark, N., Rendle-Worthington, J., & Yon, L. (2022) · Animals · doi:10.3390/ani12151933 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Measuring Elephant Health and Welfare
Szydlowski, M. (2024) · CABI eBooks · doi:10.1079/9781800624498.0005
Non-Governmental Agencies and Their Effects on Elephant Care
Szydlowski, M. (2024) · CABI eBooks · doi:10.1079/9781800624498.0008
Appendix I: Management Systems and Their Effects on Health and Welfare
Szydlowski, M. (2024) · CABI eBooks · doi:10.1079/9781800624498.app1
Hattisar Assessments and the Way Forward
Szydlowski, M. (2024) · CABI eBooks · doi:10.1079/9781800624498.0010
Szydlowski, M. (2024) · CABI eBooks · doi:10.1079/9781800625259.0006
Regulating and Monitoring the Asian Captive Elephant Industry
Ashby, G. (2025) · CABI eBooks · doi:10.1079/9781836990093.0009
Temporal improvements in elephant longevity challenge the notion of compromised survival in zoos
Sach, F., Staerk, J., Jenkins, H., Conde, D. A., Tidière, M., Fitzpatrick, M., & Colchero, F. (2026) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-026-57425-1
- Authors
- Veasey, J. S.
- Affiliations
- Nottingham Trent University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Veasey, Jake Stuart
- ORCID
- Veasey, Jake Stuart
- Venue
- Animals
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2019-12-23
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 39
- ISSN
- 2076-2615 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7022842
- OpenAlex
- W2994911162
- Cited by
- 36
- References
- 50
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 4
- FWCI
- 5.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- dx.doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Animals (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- European Association of Zoos and Aquaria
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Keywords
- Asian elephant, captive animal welfare, welfare analysis, behavioural indicators, cognitive processes, social behavior, appetitive behavior, habitat design
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
