Differences in Mother–Infant Bond and Social Behavior of African Elephant Calves Living In Situ and Ex Situ

Abstract

African zoo elephants live in safe environments with sufficient resources, are protected from threats, and have their health and body conditions cared for. Calves ex situ undergo the same developmental stages as in situ and are raised by the whole family unit. However, due to environmental differences, there might be behavioral modifications between calves in situ and ex situ. We hypothesize that these differences increase with ongoing generations. This ethological study compares social and general behavior and the distance calves kept to their mothers’ between calves of the first (F1) and second (F2) zoo generation and the wild. Using ethological methods, data were collected for ~90 in situ calves and 16 ex situ (8 F1, 8 F2) between the ages of 0.5 to 4 years (120 observation hours per group). Results showed that in situ calves spent significantly more time close to mothers than the F1 and the F2 zoo generations (F1/in situ: p = <0.001; F2/in situ: p = 0.007). The behaviors of eating, drinking, trunk movement, washing, and affiliative behaviors showed significant differences between in situ and ex situ calves. The amount and distribution of affiliative and agonistic behavior initiated and received by calves was displayed with a greater variety ex situ. Ex situ calves not only performed affiliative but, in contrast to the in situ, also agonistic behavior (F1/in situ: initiated p = 0.002, received p = 0.010; F2/in situ: initiated p = 0.050, received p = 0.037). The comparison of zoo generations suggests that differences did not increase with the generation. The more casual binding between mothers and offspring in zoos and the age-dependent improvement of social behavior of zoo-born calves are seen as a result of elephants’ adaptation to secure zoo conditions. The results of this study agree with the faster development of ex situ African elephants, like earlier puberty and more frequent breeding patterns, as known from the literature.