Abstract:
South Africa has many fenced reserves harbouring small to medium sized populations of African elephant (Loxodonta africana), most of which have been translocated. Elephants on
fenced reserves may be exposed to various management interventions and practices (translocation, hunting, darting, high tourism impact, contraception programs, disruption due to
infrastructure maintenance, etc.). These factors may impact the welfare of elephants. Poor
elephant welfare may have serious consequences such as increased inter- and intra-species
aggression that could result in fatalities. This is the first study to attempt to define behavioural
and physiological welfare parameters for free-ranging elephants on small to medium sized
reserves. The eight study sites incorporated reserves with different social structure combinations, elephant life-histories, reserve sizes, habitat, management, and tourism intensity. Data
collection consisted of behavioural observations (10-minute videos) as well as faecal samples. By incorporating both behavioural and physiological (faecal glucocorticoid metabolite
(fGCM) concentration) parameters, we aimed to investigate whether the two parameters
showed similar trends. Five behavioural categories were identified (Arousal, Assessing,
Ambivalent, Ambivalent/ Body care, and Frustrated behaviour), with various detailed behaviours demonstrated by the elephants that may indicate the influence of anthropogenic disturbance and possibly impact on animal welfare. The study showed significant differences
between the selected detailed behaviours, behavioural categories and fGCM concentrations
of elephants across the eight reserves. History seemed to be a decisive factor, as reserves
with predominantly ex-captive elephants showed higher frequencies of certain behaviours as
well as higher fGCM concentrations. Age, sex, reserve size and season were also found to
contribute to our defined welfare indices and fGCM concentrations. This indicates that behavioural parameters, indicative of certain behavioural states, are valuable indicators of welfare,
as supported by the physiological response of the elephants. The results also highlight the
importance of taking multiple specified behaviours from a category into consideration when
evaluating the welfare of elephants, to account for individual variation.
