Habituation to Auditory Stimuli by Captive African Elephants (Loxodonta africana)

Goodyear, Sarah; Schulte, Bruce A.

doi:10.12966/abc.11.01.2015

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 88 publications

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“…Overall, the work on sensory biology and communication in elephants has been too single‐sense focused, so more multi‐modal studies could improve our understanding of elephant biology, providing valuable information for animal‐management protocols and human–elephant conflict resolution, especially as it applies to deterring crop‐raiding elephants (Schulte, ). We know that elephants in captivity can habituate to stimuli such as the banging of pots and pans used by people to try and ward off wild elephants approaching their crops (Goodyear & Schulte, ). The use of chilli mixed with motor oil and placed on sisal‐string fences around crop fields has been successful in keeping elephants out in some areas (e.g.…”

Section: Sensory Biologymentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Bechert

Brown

Dierenfeld

et al. 2019

International Zoo Yearbook

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African elephants Loxodonta africana and Asian elephants Elephas maximus are not thriving in many captive settings and are threatened throughout their native ranges. Many zoos support in situ conservation projects and provide opportunities to conduct ex situ research in controlled settings with comparably approachable animals. Zoo elephant projects may facilitate fieldwork with free‐ranging elephants (e.g. development of non‐invasive sampling and analytical tools), which may then also improve the husbandry of elephants in human care. Free‐ranging elephants also benefit from drug therapies and veterinary care when they are orphaned, kept as working elephants or brought in as rehabilitation cases – especially as human–elephant conflicts become more common as a result of ever‐expanding human populations. Much has been learned about the basic biology and husbandry needs of elephants but, often, the more we learn, the more questions arise. There are physiological differences between African and Asian elephants, and this should affect the management of these animals. This paper will provide brief overviews of the current state of knowledge regarding the pharmacology, nutrition, reproduction, sensory biology and diseases (primarily elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus infections) relevant to elephants with recommendations for future research.

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Section: Sensory Biologymentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Bechert

Brown

Dierenfeld

et al. 2019

International Zoo Yearbook

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show abstract

“…Elephants provide an intriguing study system for tests of personality and cognition, as they are social (Bates et al, 2008), possess large brains (reviewed in Hart et al, 2008), and are considered highly intelligent (Roth & Dicke, 2005). In the wild, farmland may represent a novel threat for elephants, in which some elephants overcome barriers (e.g., navigate around or through electric fences or habituate to deterrents) to access novel food sources (Barrett et al, 2019; Goodyear & Schulte, 2015; Mutinda et al, 2014). It is possible that some elephants are better at innovating and learning to surmount barriers in complex environments characterized by human-induced changes to the landscape including deterrents (e.g., fences, auditory deterrents), novel food resources, and the threat of killings by humans (Mumby & Plotnik, 2018).…”

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confidence: 99%

Multiple assessments of personality and problem-solving performance in captive Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) and African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana).

Barrett¹,

Benson‐Amram

2021

Journal of Comparative Psychology

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Animal personality has been shown to predict many behavioral responses across taxa, but the relationship between personality and performance on cognitive tasks remains unclear. To address this gap, we investigated whether personality predicted problem-solving performance and learning in captive Asian and African savanna elephants. We leveraged 3 novel problem-solving tasks to assess success rate, latency to touch the apparatus, exploratory diversity (the number of different behaviors exhibited toward the task), work time (the proportion of time working on the tasks), and latency to solve. To measure multiple different personality traits, such as boldness, activity, aggressiveness, curiosity, and sociability, across contexts, we carried out novel object presentations, behavioral coding through observations, and trait rating through surveys with zookeepers. We found evidence of personality through behavioral observations and surveys, but not through novel object testing. Aggressiveness and activity were important predictors of problem solving, but this was task-dependent, and the traits we measured did not significantly predict learning. Elephants solved 2 out of 3 tasks faster over time, but they did not vary their latency to touch, exploratory diversity, or work time. We discuss our results in terms of task difficulty and previous work on personality in elephants. Results from this study lay the foundation for future work connecting individual variation in personality to cognitive performance in elephants. In addition, for zoo-housed animals, individual differences research could inform enrichment and welfare decisions as well as conservation strategies.

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“…Developing an integrated suite of options for elephant movement management likely provides the best option for sustainable solutions. This is particularly relevant as elephants habituate quickly to artificial deterrents and human-elephant conflict amelioration tactics in general [7,9,10]. Elephants, when subjected to painful encounters with social insects such as honey bees and ants, can associate these negative experiences with related cues, conditioning them to exhibit avoidance behaviors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating Formic Acid as a Behavioral Modifier in African Savanna Elephants

Wright,

Gatti,

et al. 2023

Diversity

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Formic acid was investigated as a potential repellant for African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) as a semiochemical option for managing elephant movements and interactions with human infrastructure. Formic acid is a naturally occurring compound, used as an alarm pheromone and as a defensive chemical in Formicine ants, and thus a potentially desirable option compared to introducing exogenous deterrents that are foreign to the elephants’ natural habitats. Although most elephants observed (85%) did not interact with treatments containing formic acid, of the cohort of individuals (n = 38) that did respond, the majority showed a mild to moderate avoidance response, while a small proportion of elephants were distinctly repelled when experiencing formic acid cues, in some cases causing whole herds to evacuate an area. The potential for using formic acid as an elephant repellant to modulate elephant behavior in field situations is discussed.

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Habituation to Auditory Stimuli by Captive African Elephants (Loxodonta africana)

Cited by 10 publications

References 88 publications

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

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

Multiple assessments of personality and problem-solving performance in captive Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) and African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana).

Evaluating Formic Acid as a Behavioral Modifier in African Savanna Elephants

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