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Are Captive Elephants Important to Conservation BearWorks Articles by College of Agriculture Faculty Darr College of Agriculture 2003 Are Captive Elephants Important to Conservation Heidi S. Riddle Bets Rasmussen Dennis L. Schmitt Missouri State University Follow this and additional works at: https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/articles-coa Recommended Citation Riddle, H. S., B. Rasmussen, and D. L. Schmitt. "Are captive elephants important to conservation." Gajah 22 (2003): 57-61. This article or document was made available through BearWorks, the institutional repository of Missouri State University. The work contained in it may be protected by copyright and require permission of the copyright holder for reuse or redistribution. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Are coplive elephonis importqnl to conservqtion? Heidi S. Riddle, Bets Rasmussen and Dennis I-. Schrnitt ||'',edcdicatet/lisartic/etooneo-fthno.rt.fbnuard-tlinkittgAsiatt.rrientistt,Dr'I,'Ki,,;bnamlt/l1'.Dr.Knusdup/1 antlga'rpetltheimfortttttceof.tbarecentcapireatia',i/dsttdie.rde.rcihedbe/on.,,alsignilicatttfortbe.rahntionofe/ep/laut:, to hare n'orked a'itlt ltint. Introduction The value of captive elephants Detailed knowledge of inter-species interactions is useful to conservation efforts. Currently in North America, there are about 280 captive Asian elephants. The question is often asked: "Do caPtive Captive elephants provide opportunities for conservation. elephants truly benefit their wild counterParts?" awareness whether it is Captive elephants raise public - about the animal itself, or about the challenges facing wild We feel that the answer is and will present evidence from 1as elephants such as human-elephant conflict and the need to specific areas to reinforce our answer. identify and support protected areas. Public awareness, in turn, helps drive important public policies on consetvation Captive elephants serve as good will ambassadots for their and habitat protection, and also provides imPortant wild counterparts. Elephants capture human attention in opportunities for fundraising. multifaceted ways. The public and young Potential scientists, are drawn to this charismatic mammal. Every day, elephants Financial support for conservation comes not only from in facilities of all kinds plant important seeds of conservation people who experience captive wildlife exhibits, but also from in fertile minds, creating concern and raising consciousness the organizztions who exhibit captive elephants. Zoos, of the world's greatest land animal. If we are to teach people circuses, wildlife parks and exhibitors are uniquely the impottance of conservation, we have to reach them in Private able not only to communicate important consel\ration as many ways as possible. messages, but also to raise funds for conservation thtough special fundraisers, gate Proceeds and even from general Captive elephants provide an opportunitl'for people to learn revenues. N{ember organizations from gtouPs like the more about elephants. Education serves conservation, and International E,lephant Foundation, which comprise both that education take s man'1' forms. Ultimate\', the more people commercial and non-commercial exhibitors, come together know about elephants the more likell' the1, are to care about to support lmPottant conservation and scientific study what happens to tbem as a species. Elephants are a ke1'stone proJects. species with important ecological interactions with other fauna and flora. The study and conservation o[ a keystone Captive elephants aid in scientihc study which can be applied species allows manl' other smaller species to be helped. in the field. Captive elephants help validate field techniques used in conservation. F'or instance, in a carefullt'controlled DNA Heidi S. Riddle experiment using captive elephants, dung extracted sarnples Riddle's Elephant and Wildlife Sanctuar)', was compared to blood extracted DNA. These paired that allows reliable Post Office Box 715, sl-rowed that dung is a source of DNA et Dur'g Greenbrier, Arkansas 72058, USA and noninvasive genotl'ping (Fernando a/',2003). and in-rportant E-mail: elephantsanctuarr'@all tel.net extractetl DNA fron-r rvild elephants is a useful t()ol to ans\\'er some consen'zrtion questions, such as genetic Prof. L. E. L. (Bets) Rasmussen diversitf in sn-rall or isolatecl populations. Departtnent of Environrrcntal & Biotnolccular Ststctns kr intinrateh' C)Gl School of Science & fingineering, OtlSU, Captive elepl-rents oiict unique oppottunities function. Nlr-rch has bee n 20,000 N\\ \\alker Roecl, Beavertorr, unclcrstentl hos' tl'rese anitlals ancl ()reson 97()t)(r, USA learnetl :tbout elephant phvsiologr', biologv thc abilitv t<-, be close to clptive e lephal-rts. E-n-rai[: [email protected] u comrnrrnication bt This [rr-r<lr of knr>u leclse, as it incteases, continucs t() asslst Dr. Dennis L. Schmitt s ith corrsetr ati()n ntanngemcnt decisi()ns. Souths'est Nlissouri State Llniversitr; 217liarl's llall, Communication 90I South Nationrrl r\r'etlutc, lileoh tnts usc urnl tiurocleli ties o i senson' itrf r'rnrlttiott t< I soh'c Spri nef relcl, N Iissor,rri 6-58()'1, L'S.'\ thcrr tifc ptoblcnts. [:or hr-rttrtns to lrc able to dcciphcr this F,-mrrI: clenni s sch tli tt(d,snrstr.ccl r.r 57 (){:fi 22: (fLrlr 2t)t).1) 58 communicatior-r it is ottcn neccssafl to stuclt' ()nc sc.nsor! Lrut rnight bc an individual elephant problern which rna.r. be nrodalifl'at a time in an up-close context. Thus captive elcphants depenc{e nt on tbat inclividualt gender or hormonal state, ()r allow a startins point for collecting basjc information about even the time o[ year. Such cletailed knou'ledge is important how elephants communicate. A substantral amount oF our if specific biocbemical information, such as the identitl, of understanclins about the details of elephant communicarion indi'r.idual pheromones, is to be utilized in the management originates from captir-e elephants. For example, to demonstrate of *'ild elephants for example in developing - deterrents that infrasound is produced bv Asian elephants, itrvas necessarv betrve en cropland and crop raiding elephants. Most to use the sound-friendh'environmentof and the close importantl)', information about chemical ^zoo communication proxinrin, of a single elephant at that zoo Qavne et a/.,1996). needs to be utilized now, not twentl, years from now, if it is Recordings proving such elephant-emitted noises opened the to effectivell' benefit wild populations of. elephants. way' for 1,ears of field research about how elephants utilize these sounds. Physiology and Reproduction Olfaction is an important sense driving mammalian behavior. Elephants, both rvild and captive, are a challenging animal Our ongoing research into elephant olfaction has shown that to manage due to their great size, strength and intelligence. elephants behaviorally demonstrate the extensive and precise Carrf ing out detailed research into physiological parameters use oI their olfactory' s)'stems in complex life situations. Thus is simpll, not possible to do safe\' in the wild. It would be a fundamental biology question, "how do animals cope with unrealistic to think about easily collecting blood samples daily, their environment?" can be partially answered by linking or even weekly, from a wild elephant. However, by intensely specific elephant-emitted chemical compounds with elephant studying captive elephants to further our knowledge about behaviors. For example, chemical signal mediated behaviors biologv and ph1'siologl', these captive animals do effectively have been demonstrated to be female-to-female, male-to- contribute to conservalon. male, female-to-male, mother-to-offspring and male-to- female (Rasmussen & Krishnamurthl', 2000). !(ith elephants, man), medical diagnostic methods, including radiographl', have been limited in their scope because of the Our understanding of how elephant olfaction works is size of the animal. Since 1995, a new procedure, improved by easily collecting excretions such as urine and ultrasonography, is revolutionizing our understanding of breath, as well as secretions such as temporal gland and elephant biologl, (Hildebrandt et al., 1995, 1997). mucus, ftom living captive elephants to allow biochemical Ultrasonograph)'offers a clear view of many internal organs and molecular anal1.ss5. Armed with the identity of active of elephants therefote providing us with previously unknown chemical signals, we can figure out how thel' work, which intimate knowledge about elephant biology. Through signals are ephemeral and which ones are long lasting. In ultrasonography scientists have a better understanding of captivity we can easily and rapidly confirm these biochemical important biological issues in elephants such as the rimeline results b1' bioassays with living elephants ar each step. lndeed, of ovulation, and internal physical changes that occur as elephants exhibit observable and measurable responses to elephants mature and during musth. The knowledge gained pheromones, facilitating the correlation of biochemical and b1' closell' study'ing numerous captive elephants in facilities behavioral events (Rasmussen et a/.,2003). in the Vest is being shared in elephant range states everJ, Our ability' to link behavior and biochemistrl' allows more Year. rapid understanding of the results in the real ,.xzorld of the animal. Two outstanding examples exist for the Asian To successfulll'presen'e any species, a detailed understanding elephant. The pre-ovulatotl'pheromone of the female Asian of the reproductive
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