Identifying potential measures of stress and disturbance during a captive to wild African elephant reintegration

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dc.contributor.author Pretorius, Yolanda
dc.contributor.author Eggeling, Tamara
dc.contributor.author Ganswindt, Andre
dc.date.accessioned 2024-09-18T12:00:47Z
dc.date.available 2024-09-18T12:00:47Z
dc.date.issued 2023-10-03
dc.description DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files. en_US
dc.description SUPPORTING INFORMATION : DATA S1. en_US
dc.description.abstract There is increasing evidence of compromised welfare for elephants managed in captivity. Should such facilities eventually close, more elephants will need to be rehabilitated and reintegrated into the wild. The goal of such reintegration would be to restore any physical or psychological aspects of the elephant that may have been compromised in captivity, followed by introduction into a free-roaming system where they can interact with other elephants. However, to achieve this goal, the reintegration methods implemented need to be assessed to ensure that welfare remains the priority. The objective of this study was to test whether parameters generally associated with stress and disturbance in African elephants, respond to changes in potentially stressful environmental conditions, assessed at multiple temporal scales ranging from minutes to months. The main changes in environmental conditions that were investigated included the different phases of reintegration of a group of elephants from captivity into the wild. Stress and disturbance related parameters used for comparisons included physiological responses, namely the extent of temporal gland secretions (eTGS) and faecal glucocorticoid metabolite (fGCM) levels as well as behavioural responses, namely the display of stereotype and stress-related behaviours. Results showed that eTGS significantly increased during the initial release of the elephants compared to when in captivity. Stereotypic behaviours were only recorded during the captive phase and immediately ceased after release. Faecal GCM levels spiked in the first year after release before decreasing back to pre-reintegration levels during the third year. These findings indicate that fGCM levels, the eTGS and disturbance related behaviours all proved effective in explaining the changes in stress and disturbance experienced by elephants during the initial years after being reintegrated from captivity into the wild. en_US
dc.description.department Anatomy and Physiology en_US
dc.description.department Mammal Research Institute en_US
dc.description.librarian am2024 en_US
dc.description.sdg SDG-03:Good heatlh and well-being en_US
dc.description.sponsorship The EMS Foundation via the Elephant Reintegration Trust. en_US
dc.description.uri https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ en_US
dc.identifier.citation Pretorius, Y., Eggeling, T. & Ganswindt, A. (2023) Identifying potential measures of stress and disturbance during a captive to wild African elephant reintegration. PLoS One 18(10): e0291293. https://DOI.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0291293. en_US
dc.identifier.issn 1932-6203 (online)
dc.identifier.other 10.1371/journal.pone.0291293
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/2263/98302
dc.language.iso en en_US
dc.publisher Public Library of Science en_US
dc.rights © 2023 Pretorius et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. en_US
dc.subject Welfare en_US
dc.subject Wild en_US
dc.subject Captivity en_US
dc.subject Elephants (Loxodonta africana) en_US
dc.subject SDG-03: Good health and well-being en_US
dc.title Identifying potential measures of stress and disturbance during a captive to wild African elephant reintegration en_US
dc.type Article en_US


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