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EAZA Best Practices Guidelines for Elephants 2020

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EAZA Best Practices Guidelines for Elephants 2020 EAZA Best Practice Guidelines for Elephants second edition published 2020 EAZA Elephant Best Practice Guidelines 2020 Editorial team (in alphabetical order): Petra Bolechova, Zoo Liberec, Czech Republic Marcus Clauss, University of Zurich, Switzerland Danny de Man, EAZA Office Cordula Galeffi, Zürich Zoo, Switzerland Sander Hofman, Antwerpen Zoo, Belgium Jeroen Kappelhof, Rotterdam Zoo, The Netherlands Guy Kfir, Ramat Gan Zoo Bo Kjellson, Boras Zoo, Sweden Thomas Kölpin, Wilhelma Zoo Stuttgart, Germany Arne Lawrenz, Wuppertal Zoo, Germany Imke Lüders, GEOLifes, Germany Andrew McKenzie, Chester Zoo, UK Con Mul, Ouwehands Zoo, The Netherlands Ann-Kathrin Oerke, German Primate Centre Göttingen, Germany Jana Pluhackova, Ostrava Zoo, Czech Republic Fiona Sach, ZSL, UK Willem Schaftenaar, Rotterdam Zoo, The Netherlands Christian Schiffmann, University of Zurich, Switzerland Harald Schmidt, Rotterdam Zoo, The Netherlands Endre Sos, Budapest Zoo, Hungary Lars Versteege, Beekse Bergen, The Netherlands The Editorial team would like to acknowledge that the EAZA Best Practise Guidelines for Elephants (2020) are based on the BIAZA Elephant Management Guidelines (2019), and thus thank the editors and all the contributors of these BIAZA guidelines for the enormous contribution to these EAZA guidelines. Any amendments made to content during development of these EAZA Best Practise Guidelines have not been endorsed by those contributors. EAZA Elephant Taxon Advisory Group core group Chair: Thomas Kölpin, Wilhelma Zoo Stuttgart, Germany Vice-chair: Jana Pluhackova, Ostrava Zoo, Czech Republic Asian elephant EEP coordinator: Harald Schmidt, Rotterdam Zoo, The Netherlands African elephant EEP coordinator: Arne Lawrenz, Wuppertal Zoo, Germany Disclaimer Copyright (2020) by EAZA Executive Office, Amsterdam. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in hard copy, machine-readable or other forms without advance written permission from the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA). Members of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) may copy this information for their own use as needed. The information contained in these EAZA Best Practice Guidelines has been obtained from numerous sources believed to be reliable. EAZA and the EAZA Elephant TAG make a diligent effort to provide a complete and accurate representation of the data in its reports, publications, and services. However, EAZA does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy, or completeness of any information. EAZA disclaims all liability for errors or omissions that may exist and shall not be liable for any incidental, consequential, or other damages (whether resulting from negligence or otherwise) including, without limitation, exemplary damages or lost profits arising out of or in connection with the use of this 1 EAZA Elephant Best Practice Guidelines 2020 publication. Because the technical information provided in the EAZA Best Practice Guidelines can easily be misread or misinterpreted unless properly analyzed, EAZA strongly recommends that users of this information consult with the editors in all matters related to data analysis and interpretation. EAZA Preamble Right from the very beginning it has been the concern of EAZA and the EEPs to encourage and promote the highest possible standards for husbandry of zoo and aquarium animals. For this reason, quite early on, EAZA developed the “Minimum Standards for the Accommodation and Care of Animals in Zoos and Aquaria”. These standards lay down general principles of animal keeping, to which the members of EAZA feel themselves committed. Above and beyond this, some countries have defined regulatory minimum standards for the keeping of individual species regarding the size and furnishings of enclosures etc., which, according to the opinion of authors, should definitely be fulfilled before allowing such animals to be kept within the area of the jurisdiction of those countries. These minimum standards are intended to determine the borderline of acceptable animal welfare. It is not permitted to fall short of these standards. How difficult it is to determine the standards, however, can be seen in the fact that minimum standards vary from country to country. Above and beyond this, specialists of the EEPs and TAGs have undertaken the considerable task of laying down guidelines for keeping individual animal species. Whilst some aspects of husbandry reported in the guidelines will define minimum standards, in general, these guidelines are not to be understood as minimum requirements; they represent best practice. As such the EAZA Best Practice Guidelines for keeping animals intend rather to describe the desirable design of enclosures and prerequisites for animal keeping that are, according to the present state of knowledge, considered as being optimal for each species. They intend above all to indicate how enclosures should be designed and what conditions should be fulfilled for the optimal care of individual species Cover photo: © Pavel Vlček, Ostrava Zoo 2 EAZA Elephant Best Practice Guidelines 2020 SECTION 1: BIOLOGY AND FIELD DATA BIOLOGY………………………………………………………….………………..……………………………..5 1.1 TAXONOMY....................................................................................................5 1.2 MORPHOLOGY................................................................................................6 1.3 PHYSIOLOGY...................................................................................................8 1.4 LONGEVITY....................................................................................................13 FIELD DATA.........................................................................................................14 1.5 CONSERVATION STATUS/ZOOGEOGRAPHY/ECOLOGY..............................................14 1.6 DIET AND FEEDING BEHAVIOUR..........................................................................19 1.7 REPRODUCTION..............................................................................................20 1.8 BEHAVIOUR...................................................................................................25 SECTION 2: MANAGEMENT IN ZOOS 2.1 ENCLOSURE…………………………………………………………………………………….……………29 2.1.1 BOUNDARY……………………………………………………………………………….……………….32 2.1.2 SUBSTRATE……………………………………………………………………………….…………..…..33 2.1.3 FURNISHINGS AND MAINTENANCE………………………………………………….………………..34 2.1.4 ENVIRONMENT………………………………………………………………………….………………..35 2.1.5 DIMENSIONS………………………………………………..………………………….…………………36 2.2 FEEDING 2.2.1 BASIC DIET………………………………………………………………………………...………………38 2.2.2 SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS………………………………………………………………..………….….42 2.2.3 VITAMIN AND MINERAL DEFICIENCIES IN CAPTIVITY……………………………..……………….43 2.2.4 EXAMPLES FOR DAILY RATION QUANTITIES………………………………………..………..……..44 2.3 SOCIAL STRUCTURE 2.3.1 BASIC SOCIAL STRUCTURE…………………………………………………………….………………..46 2.3.2 CHANGING GROUP STRUCTURE……………………………………………………………………….47 2.3.3 SHARING ENCLOSURE WITH OTHER SPECIES…………………………………….………………….49 2.4 BREEDING 2.4.1 MATING……………………………………………………………………………..….………………….52 2.4.2 PREGNANCY…………………………………………………………………………..…………………..60 2.4.3 CONTRACEPTION……………………………………………………………………..…………………..61 2.4.4 BIRTH……………………………………………………………………………………..…………………61 2.4.5 DEVELOPMENT AND CARE OF YOUNG…………………………………………………………………65 2.4.6 HAND-REARING…………………………………………………………………………..……………….68 2.4.7 POPULATION MANAGEMENT…………………………………………………………..……………….68 3 EAZA Elephant Best Practice Guidelines 2020 2.5 WELFARE AND ENRICHMENT……………………………………….………….………………………..70 2.6 HANDLING 2.6.1 INDIVIDUAL IDENTIFICATION AND SEXING………………………………….……………………….76 2.6.2 GENERAL HANDLING………………………………………………………….…………………………79 2.6.3 RESTRAINING………………………………………………………………….………………………….92 2.6.4 TRANSPORTATION…………………………………………………………………….…………………92 2.6.5 SAFETY………………………………………………………………………………….………………….95 2.7 VETERINARY: CONSIDERATIONS FOR HEALTH AND WELFARE……………….……………………..97 2.8 SPECIFIC PROBLEMS 2.8.1 FOOT CARE…………………………………………………………………………………………………..107 2.8.2 GERIATRIC CARE…………………………………………………………………………………………….123 2.8.3 SLEEP…..……………………………………………………………………………………………………..124 2.9 RECOMMENDED RESEARCH………………………………………………………………………………125 APPENDIX I: TO BREED OR NOT TO BREED……………………………….………………………………….126 APPENDIX II: VETERINARY GUIDELINES FOR REPRODUCTION…….………………………………..……131 APPENDIX III: EEHV GUIDELINES.……………………………………………………………………………150 APPENDIX IV: DEMONSTRATION GUIDELINES…………………………………………………..…………164 APPENDIX V: BODY CONDITION SCORING…………………………………………………………………..167 APPENDIX VI: ADVICE MVA VACCINATION………………………………………………………………..171 APPENDIX VII: TB TESTING IN EAZA ELEPHANTS…………………………………………………………172 APPENDIX VIII: ELEPHANT NECROPSY PROTOCOL…………………………………………………………181 APPENDIX IX: QUALITY OF LIFE ASSESMENT FOR ELEPHANTS……………………………………………188 SECTION 3: REFERENCES……………………………………….……………………………..194 4 EAZA Elephant Best Practice Guidelines 2020 SECTION 1: BIOLOGY AND FIELD DATA BIOLOGY 1.1 TAXONOMY Order Proboscidea Family Elephantidae Genera Loxodonta (African elephant) Elephas (Asian elephant) Species Loxodonta africana (African bush elephant) Loxodonta cyclotis (African forest elephant) Elephas maximus (Asian elephant) Table 1 Elephant taxonomy Species and Subspecies Recent genetic and phylogenetic research suggests the presence of two species of African elephant (savannah Loxodonta africana and forest Loxodonta cyclotis), one species of Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) and a number of subspecies of both African and Asian elephants (Table 1). It is likely that elephant taxonomy may diversify in
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