Recent Publications on Asian Elephants
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News and Briefs Gajah 51 (2020) 47-71 Recent Publications on Asian Elephants Compiled by Jennifer Pastorini Centre for Conservation and Research, Tissamaharama, Sri Lanka Anthropologisches Institut, Universität Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland E-mail: [email protected] If you need additional information on any of the urine samples collected on three consecutive articles, please feel free to contact me. You can days. Four elephants (31%) were confrmed to also let me know about new (2020) publications shed pathogenic leptospires in their urine. DNA on Asian elephants. sequencing followed by phylogenetic distance measurements revealed that all positive elephants A. Abdullah, A. Sayuti, H. Hasanuddin, M. Affan were infected with L. interrogans. This study & G. Wilson reveals the possibility that elephants act as a People’s perceptions of elephant conservation source of infection of leptospires to humans and and the human-elephant confict in Aceh Jaya, recommends the screening of all domesticated Sumatra, Indonesia elephants that are in close contact with humans European J. of Wildlife Research 65 (2019) e69 for the shedding of pathogenic leptospires. © Abstract. No permission to print the abstract. 2019 Reprinted with permission from Elsevier . T.P.J. Athapattu, B.R. Fernando, N. Koizumi & K.A. Backues & E.B. Wiedner C.D. Gamage Recommendations for the diagnosis, treatment Detection of pathogenic leptospires in the and management of tuberculosis, Mycobacte- urine of domesticated elephants in Sri Lanka rium tuberculosis, in elephants in human care Acta Tropica 195 (2019) 78-82 International Zoo Yearbook 53 (2019) 116-127 Abstract. Leptospirosis is a globally common Abstract. African elephants Loxodonta africana zoonotic infectious disease in humans and and Asian elephants Elephas maximus are both animals. This disease is caused by pathogenic susceptible to infection by Mycobacterium spirochetes belonging to the genus Leptospira. tuberculosis (Mtb). The Asian elephant has lived The pathogen is able to survive in mammalian in close association with humans in Asian range kidneys after infection and is excreted in urine countries for thousands of years and this close intermittently. Pathogenic leptospires infect partnership is likely responsible for the exposure humans either by direct contact with infected of the Asian elephant to this human disease. The animal urine or through contaminated soil confrmation by modern veterinary medicine or water. In Sri Lanka, some studies have of the existence of Mtb infection in elephants demonstrated the involvement of animals, such has only occurred recently after a testing as livestock species and peridomestic rats, in programme was initiated in 1996 in elephant‐ the transmission of leptospirosis to humans. holding facilities in the United States. At the However, none of the previous studies focused time of writing, Mtb is recognized as a disease on domesticated elephants, which are in close primarily of Asian elephants in zoos. However, contact with humans during cultural and recent identifcation of tuberculosis in several religious events and bathe in rivers together free‐ranging elephants, both Asian and African, with humans. If domesticated elephants act as indicates that the disease may be emerging in carriers of pathogenic leptospires, it could be a the threatened wild populations of these species, major public health issue in the country. In this which may further hinder the survival of wild study, 13 healthy domesticated elephants were elephants in some free‐ranging populations. subjected to leptospiral DNA detection from Ante‐mortem diagnosis of the disease in 47 elephants is improving but remains challenging. herpesvirus infections) relevant to elephants with Protecting both human and elephant health via recommendations for future research. © 2019 prevention of Mtb exposure must be part of The Zoological Society of London. a preventative‐medicine strategy wherever humans and elephants closely interact. Treatment S.N. Chapman, J. Jackson, W. Htut, V. Lummaa of Mtb‐infected elephants has been accomplished & M. Lahdenperä by many facilities with some promising results. Asian elephants exhibit post-reproductive However, many challenges remain, including lifespans the side effects of drug therapies and poor BMC Evolutionary Biology 19 (2019) e193 compliance to medication administration by the Abstract. The existence of extended post- elephant. Inconsistent treatment may potentially reproductive lifespan is an evolutionary puzzle, result in the bacterium developing resistance to and its taxonomic prevalence is debated. One the antibiotics. A brief overview of the diagnosis, way of measuring post-reproductive life is with treatment and management of Mtb in elephants in post-reproductive representation, the proportion human care is provided. © 2019 The Zoological of adult years lived by females after cessation Society of London. of reproduction. Analyses of post-reproductive representation in mammals have claimed that U.S. Bechert, J.L. Brown, E.S. Dierenfeld, P.D. only humans and some toothed whale species Ling, C.M. Molter & B.A. Schulte exhibit extended post-reproductive life, but there Zoo elephant research: Contributions to con- are suggestions of a post-reproductive stage for servation of captive and free-ranging species false killer whales and Asian elephants. Here, International Zoo Yearbook 53 (2019) 89-115 we investigate the presence of post-reproductive Abstract. African elephants Loxodonta afri- lifespan in Asian elephants using an extended cana and Asian elephants Elephas maximus demographic dataset collected from semi-captive are not thriving in many captive settings and timber elephants in Myanmar. Furthermore, we are threatened throughout their native ranges. investigate the sensitivity of post-reproductive Many zoos support in situ conservation projects representation values to availability of long- and provide opportunities to conduct ex situ term data over 50 years. We fnd support for research in controlled settings with comparably the presence of an extended post-reproductive approachable animals. Zoo elephant projects may stage in Asian elephants, and that post- facilitate feldwork with free‐ranging elephants reproductive representation and its underlying (e.g. development of non‐invasive sampling demographic rates depend on the length of study and analytical tools), which may then also period in a long-lived animal. The extended improve the husbandry of elephants in human post-reproductive lifespan is unlikely due to care. Free‐ranging elephants also beneft from physiological reproductive cessation, and may drug therapies and veterinary care when they are instead be driven by mating preferences or orphaned, kept as working elephants or brought condition-dependent fertility. Our results also in as rehabilitation cases – especially as human– show that it is crucial to revisit such population elephant conficts become more common as a measures in long-lived species as more data result of ever‐expanding human populations. is collected, and if the typical lifespan of the Much has been learned about the basic biology species exceeds the initial study period. © 2019 and husbandry needs of elephants but, often, the The Authors. more we learn, the more questions arise. There are physiological differences between African D.E. Chusyd, J.L. Brown, L. Golzarri‐Arroyo, and Asian elephants, and this should affect the S.L. Dickinson, M.S. Johnson, D.B. Allison & management of these animals. This paper will T.R. Nagy provide brief overviews of the current state Fat mass compared to four body condition of knowledge regarding the pharmacology, scoring systems in the Asian elephant (Elephas nutrition, reproduction, sensory biology and maximus) diseases (primarily elephant endotheliotropic Zoo Biology 38 (2019) 424-433 48 Abstract. Captive elephant populations are not character of Rāvaṇa, arguing frst – with reference self‐sustaining due to health concerns possibly to both Bharata’s Nāṭyaśāstra and the works of related to obesity. Categorizing obesity relies on Kālidāsa – that Raviṣeṇa establishes humor by qualitative analyses like body condition scores subtly undercutting common Sanskrit literary (BCS). However, elephant indices have not been tropes, and, second, that this humor serves three validated against measured body composition. interrelated purposes vis-à-vis Rāvaṇa. First, the The objective was to compare BCS systems to humor foreshadows Rāvaṇa’s primary character body composition determined by deuterium faws that will lead to his abduction of Sītā and dilution in 28 zoo‐kept Asian elephants. eventual death at the hands of Lakṣmaṇa. Second, Elephants were weighed and given deuterated the humor works to humanize Rāvaṇa, making water orally (0.05 ml/kg). Blood was collected at him a sympathetic character to the reader. Third, ~0, 24, 120, 240, 360, and 480 hr after dosing. the humor establishes Rāvaṇa in opposition to Photographs were taken to score the elephant the calm and serious Rāma, thereby positing that, based on four BCS systems (BCSWemmer [0 to 11 according to Raviṣeṇa, true heroism consists of scoring], BCSMorfeld [1 to 5 scoring], BCSFernando [0 controlling one’s passions. © 2019 Informa UK to 10 scoring], BCSWijeyamohan [1 to 10 scoring]). Limited. Based on regression analysis, relative fat ranged from −305 kg to 515 kg, where negative values J. Conte, Margret J. Potoczniak, C. Mower & indicate less and positive values indicate more S.S. Tobe fat than expected for the elephant’s