Elephant’s breast milk contains large amounts of glucosamine

Abstract

Hand-reared elephant calves that are nursed with milk substitutes sometimes suffer bone fractures, probably due to problems associated with nutrition, exercise, sunshine levels and/or genetic factors. As we were expecting the birth of an Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), we analyzed elephant’s breast milk to improve the milk substitutes for elephant calves. Although there were few nutritional differences between conventional substitutes and elephant’s breast milk, we found a large unknown peak in the breast milk during high-performance liquid chromatography-based amino acid analysis and determined that it was glucosamine (GlcN) using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. We detected the following GlcN concentrations [mean ± SD] (mg/100 g) in milk hydrolysates produced by treating samples with 6M HCl for 24 hr at 110°C: four elephant’s breast milk samples: 516 ± 42, three cow’s milk mixtures: 4.0 ± 2.2, three mare’s milk samples: 12 ± 1.2 and two human milk samples: 38. The GlcN content of the elephant’s milk was 128, 43 and 14 times greater than those of the cow’s, mare’s and human milk, respectively. Then, we examined the degradation of GlcN during 0–24 hr hydrolyzation with HCl. We estimated that elephant’s milk contains >880 mg/100 g GlcN, which is similar to the levels of major amino acids in elephant’s milk. We concluded that a novel GlcN-containing milk substitute should be developed for elephant calves. The efficacy of GlcN supplements is disputed, and free GlcN is rare in bodily fluids; thus, the optimal molecular form of GlcN requires a further study.

The Dynamic Changes of African Elephant Milk Composition over Lactation

“…This was based on these results but also on the convenience of use and demand of small volumes of milk compared the Kjeldahl method. It has to be noted that acidic oligosaccharides, which contain N-neuraminic acid, may contribute to the non-protein nitrogen (NPN) [40]; however, the amounts were almost negligible when the protein content was calculated.…”

Zoo elephant research: contributions to conservation of captive and free‐ranging species

“…Studies suggest component changes to milk composition during lactation that correlate with calf developmental needs (Abbondanza et al, 2013). As well, unique carbohydrates (Uemura et al, 2006;Osthoff et al, 2008), lipids (Osthoff et al, 2007), and the presence of high levels of glucosamine (Takatsu et al, 2017) have been identified in elephant milk. All of this information helps us optimize hand-rearing protocols for calves.…”

Milk Composition of Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus) in a Natural Environment in Myanmar during Late Lactation

“…Osthoff et al [20] identified four phases in the lactation period of elephants: (1) the very early (colostrum) phase occurs during the first few days of lactation; (2) early lactation-up to 12 months when large variations in milk nutrient composition are observed; (3) the transition phase between 12 and 18 months when protein and fat content increases and carbohydrate content decreases; and (4) the final (late) lactation phase from 18 months onwards when the nutrient content stabilizes but protein remains high. Unique aspects of elephant milk have been described, including small sized and highly saturated lipid globules [21,22], and the presence of elevated concentrations of lactose-derived oligosaccharides [23], as well as high levels of glucosamine [24]. Nonetheless, only limited data exist concerning milk nutrient composition of captive elephants [23,[25][26][27][28], with almost none from animals in a native habitat [21,22].…”