Elephants involved in public processions have elevated stress hormones

If tigers can get stressed due to gawking safari tourists close by, can elephants be far behind? Scientists at the CSIR-Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CCMB) have found that the elephants in captivity and used in religious and other activities like tourism and as workforce have high stress levels.

The present study led by Dr.G.Umapathy, Principal Scientist, Laboratory for the Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES) of CSIR- CCMB examined the physiological stress response of captive Asian elephants.

They studied the health of elephants under different working conditions and have especially recorded that elephants involved in public procession as in the Mysore Dussehra festival had significantly elevated stress hormones compared to their counterparts at Mysore zoo. Elephants born in the wild and females had also significantly higher stress level when exposed to various physical activities and different husbandry practices.

The research team checked for stress hormones or glucocorticoid metabolities levels in 870 dung samples of 37 captive elephants (24 males and 13 females) from four elephant facilities - Mysore Zoo, Mysore Dusshera camp, Mudumalai elephant camp and Bandhavgarh elephant camp.

It was pointed out that more than 20% of Asian elephants live in captivity and are an indispensable workforce for forest departments, tourism, and religious purposes with increased use of unskilled and inexperienced mahouts.

Impact on behaviour

The different physical and physiological stresses influence the behaviour, welfare and long-term survival of the captive populations comprising their fertility and thereby threatening the long-term survival of their populations, the study said.

It suggests minimising participation of elephants in religious activities, processions and forest department activities. Females in reproductive age (20 – 55 yrs) shouldn’t be used for stressful activities so as to not affect their reproductive cycles. Adult male elephants may be used for tourism and patrolling activities that involve three to four hours per day in the forests with adequate rest on alternate days.

Periodic monitoring of health and reproductive status by outside experts should be done. These along with educating elephant handlers regarding welfare of elephants is of utmost importance, researchers noted.

Other members of research group involved in this study published in a recent issue of journal Animals includes Vinod Kumar, Muthulingam Pradheeps, Adiseshu Kokkiligadda, Rajashekhar Niyogi - all from LaCONES, CSIR-CCMB.

Higher violence in the stressed animals has also resulted in human casualties too. Kerala which has a long tradition of keeping captive elephants witnessed 274 cases of manslaughter by captive elephants between 1989 and 2003 (an average of 10 manslaughters/year).

A previous study by this group has demonstrated that chronic stress affected female reproductive cyclicity and thus reproduction in elephants.

“These findings, through non-invasive techniques, are important in better handling of domesticated animals and minimising their discomfort, that we were earlier not even aware of” said CSIR-CCMB Director Dr. Rakesh Mishra.

The paper published in journal Animals can be found at: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/ 9/8/553