Activity budgets and the relationship between feeding and stereotypic behaviors in Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in a Zoo

Abstract

Activity budgets were studied in eight Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) at Chester Zoo (UK) for 35 days, between January and November 1999. Recordings were made between 10:00 and 16:00 hr (with most behavior frequencies calculated between 10:00 and 14:00 hr). The elephants exhibited variation in activity depending on their age, sex, the time of day and the time of year. Only the five adult cows exhibited stereotypic behavior, with frequencies ranging from 3.9 to 29.4% of all observations. These elephants exhibited individual, diurnal and seasonal variation in stereotypic behavior. This has implications for studies that use short sampling periods and may make comparisons of data collected at different times of the day or year invalid. The six adult elephants spent 27.4-41.4% of the time feeding (between 10:00 and 14:00 hr), 22.9-42.0% standing still, 6.1-19.2% walking and 3.9-9.6% dusting. The hypothesis that the frequency of stereotypic behavior in adult cow elephants was negatively correlated with the frequency of feeding behavior was tested and was found to be true. Stereotypic behavior increased in frequency toward the end of the day-while waiting to return to the elephant house for food--and elephants spent more time stereotyping during the winter months than during the summer months. Elephants were inactive (i.e. exhibited behaviors other than locomotion) for between 70.1 and 93.9% of the time. Creating more opportunities for elephants to exhibit foraging behavior and the introduction of greater unpredictability into management regimes, especially feeding times, may reduce the frequency of stereotypic behavior and increase general activity levels.

Diurnal and Nocturnal Activity Time Budgets of Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus) in a Zoological Park

“…Furthermore, trainer interaction may include walking as the trainers ask the elephants to move from one area of the habitat to another, as well as elephants following or soliciting attention from trainers. This may be the reason that the walking time seen in the current study is lower than that seen in other studies of captive Asian elephants (6.1-19.2%; Rees, 2009) and captive African elephants (about 27% during the day outside, Posta, 2011).…”

“…Rees (2009) found age affected activity patterns, including locomotion, when comparing elephants from 1-43 years of age. In the current study, the oldest animal (Elephant S) had the highest amount of walking (9% of the day).…”

“…Schmid, Heistermann, Glanslober, and Hodges (2001) studied six female elephants in European zoos and found 29-64% of observation hours (08:00 to 18:00 hr) were spent foraging and drinking. Rees (2009) observed 27-41% of the study time (10:00 to 14:00 hr) was spent feeding by six adult Asian elephants in a zoological park (five cows and one bull).…”

“…The studies that have looked at Asian elephant behavior have found considerable variation between individuals, habitats and seasons, in both wild and captive animals (e.g., Rees, 2009;Sukumar, 1992). Variations in behavior have also been seen due to differences in housing and management (e.g., Posta, 2011).…”

“…Time spent walking is difficult to compare to previous studies, as some studies include walking in the definition of eating when performed simultaneously (e.g., Rees, 2009), while others do not (e.g., Posta, 2011), and some have a certain distance or number of steps the animal must complete in the definition of locomotion (e.g., Wilson et al, 2006). Walking in the current study is defined as movement of all four feet in a forward or backward motion.…”