Review of the management of the Asian elephant Elephas maximus EEP: current challenges and future solutions

Abstract

This article reviews the current situation in the Asian Elephant Elephas maximus European Association of Zoos and Aquaria Ex situ Programme (EEP). In recent years, developments in husbandry and gained knowledge about the reproductive biology of Asian elephants have contributed to increased breeding success and resulted in a mean of 15 births per year in the last 5 years. At the time of writing, the Asian elephant EEP population contains 307 individuals: 90.217 (♂♂.♀♀). Based on the life table for 1998–2018, most demographic parameters show healthy numbers [e.g. lambda (λ) = 1·025], while the population has retained 98·44% of the gene diversity. However, this EEP is also facing multiple challenges, such as the presence of subspecies, transport barriers between some EEP participants and the societal debate about the purpose of zoos. The growing number of male elephants in the EEP population appears to be the most immediate challenge. In the short term, the authors suggest that females could be managed to conceive for the first time at 8 years of age and adhere to an interbirth interval of 7 years. This would be an attempt to decrease the reproductive rate without compromising the future reproductive potential of the population. The authors also prescribe improving facilities for elephants to allow zoos to utilize a fission–fusion housing strategy, making it possible to house the increasing number of males appropriately over the longer term.

Facilitating the social behaviour of bull elephants in zoos

“…Housing should permit the elephants to be together whenever they choose, but should be designed so that individuals can also choose to be separate from other elephants, either physically or visually. Building housing that allows this level of flexibility and choice, particularly when access to outdoor environments may be restricted because of inclement weather, requires significant investment and a substantial change in facility design criteria (Sach et al, 2019;Schmidt & Kappelhof, 2019). Separation of elephants through human intervention or management, rather than by elephant choice, should be minimized.…”

“…However, the need for modification has been recognized and changes to husbandry guidelines are under discussion (cf. Schmidt & Kappelhof, 2019).…”

“…As importation of wild elephants became unfeasible for legislative and ethical reasons, zoos recognized that managing selfsustaining populations of elephants through reproduction was the only way to continue to maintain elephants in zoos (Wiese & Willis, 2006;Schmidt & Kappelhof, 2019). Breeding of elephants has proved challenging, with problems relating to fertility (Brown, 2000;Hermes et al, 2004), dystocia (Hildebrandt et al, 2006) and calf survivorship (Taylor & Poole, 1998;Mar et al, 2012).…”

“…Whilst artificial reproduction techniques including sperm sorting have been proposed as a potential solution, it would take decades for such techniques to affect the population structure (Wiese & Willis, 2006). Therefore, as the number of bulls of all ages continues to increase, zoos must plan for the long-term management of bull elephants, and provision for their physical and mental well-being must be prioritized (Schmidt & Kappelhof, 2019). It is now recognized that wild bull elephants have complex and specific social structures and relationships (Archie et al, 2006;Evans & Harris, 2008;Lee et al, 2011;Goldenberg et al, 2014), and it is necessary that these are reflected in the management practices utilized in zoos in the care of bull elephants.…”

Editorial: Conservation of Elephants

“…Schmidt & Kappelhof () then describe the population dynamics of the Asian elephant European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) Ex situ Programme (EEP), and review some of the challenges that will be faced in the near future. While the breeding success experienced in the EEP population in recent years (i.e.…”