Monitoring Behaviour in African Elephants during Introduction into a New Group: Differences between Related and Unrelated Animals

Abstract

The introduction of elephants into new groups is necessary for breeding programmes. However, behavioural studies on the reactions of these animals at first encounters are missing. In the present study, female African elephants (Loxodonta africana) living in zoos were observed during unifications with unfamiliar elephants (introduction of two to one females and one to two females; n = 6) and reunifications with related elephants (two mother–daughter-pairs; n = 4) that were separated for 2 and 12 years, respectively. First encounters of the elephants were observed and recorded by scan sampling. The parameters measured were (a) signs of the characteristic Greeting Ceremony, (b) distance to the fence separating the elephants during first contact, and (c) time until trunks touched for the first time. The data were statistically analysed with SPSS. The results showed that related elephants performed a full Greeting Ceremony on reunifications. Unrelated elephants only expressed a minor greeting. During first encounters, related elephants predominantly showed affiliative behaviour (p = 0.001), whilst unrelated elephants expressed more agonistic behaviour (p = 0.001). The distance to the fence was significantly smaller for related elephants than for unrelated elephants (p = 0.038). first contact of trunks occurred on average after 3.00 s. in related elephants and 1026.25 s. in unrelated elephants. These findings indicate that related elephants recognise their kin after up to 12 years of separation, meet them with a full Greeting Ceremony during reunification, and seek contact to the related elephant, while unrelated elephants are hesitant during unifications with unfamiliar elephants and express more agonistic behaviour. The results testify that zoo elephants show the same species-specific social behaviour as their conspecifics in the wild. It also confirms the cognitive abilities of elephants and the significance of matrilines for breeding programmes.

Group Reunion in Zoo European Wildcats Using Cat Appeasing Pheromone (CAP) and Gradual Release of the Animals in the Exhibit—A Case Study

“…At the moment, the low number of published papers dealing with (re)unions is unlikely to represent a high percentage of the actual cases of (re)unions taking place in zoological institutions worldwide. Moreover, published papers tend to deal mainly with highly charismatic social species (such as social primates, wild dogs and elephants [3,[12][13][14][15]), although solitary species can also be kept in groups or pairs in zoos, and such an approach has been found to be beneficial for at least some of them [8,[16][17][18][19]. For example, a quick search on Scopus (https://www.scopus.com/; accessed on 16 November 2021) with the introduction AND zoo AND cat AND social AND group as keywords rendered only one result: a paper on enrichment in tigers, including a general section on social housing [20], although two cases of a semiochemical being used during the introduction of tigers have been published elsewhere [2,21].…”

Long-Term Olfactory Memory in African Elephants

“…A prerequisite to further explore these means is the knowledge of elephant stress levels during (re-)unification. The results of this study indicate that the fecal sample presentation did not induce an increase in physiological stress, expressed in the level of glucocorticoids, and can be a potentially useful test in advance of future (re-)unification [21,22].…”

“…In a joint study, Hörner et al [22] confirmed the positive reaction to the presentation of a relative during the re-unification of mothers and their daughters. However, unrelated elephants living in zoos reacted with tension and agonistic behavior during first encounters as part of unification.…”

“…The long-term olfactory memory and the positive reaction to the relatives' scent are further confirmations of the close family bonds in African elephants, especially from mother to daughter. The study also promotes a new testing tool for future transfers, which can be used as a method to familiarize elephants with scents before unification, to predict reactions during re-unifications, as described in Hörner et al [22], and to secure elephant safety and welfare. For future studies, the assessment of animal welfare following re-unifications would help in providing more evidence for the usefulness of the fecalsmelling test.…”

“…This study was performed as a pre-test for the planned re-unifications of the two mother-daughter pairs, which was later also monitored scientifically [22]. To evaluate elephant reactions before re-unifications and to test their olfactory memory, all four elephants were presented with three different fecal samples beforehand, resulting in three trials conducted with each of the four elephants: (a) an absent kin sample from a separated mother or daughter, (b) a present non-kin sample from an unrelated female, and (c) an absent non-kin sample from a female elephant that all the observed elephants had never met before and were therefore entirely unfamiliar with.…”