News and Briefs Gajah 52 (2020) 64-80

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 region for elephants, the forest is ‘degrading’ articles, please feel free to contact me. You can drastically that will have a far-reaching impact also let me know about new (2020) publications on the long-term conservation of elephants in on Asian elephants. the NEG. Similarly, human-elephant confict is on the rise and it is one of the biggest threats to T.D. Allendorf, B. Gurung, S. Poudel, S. Dahal the conservation of elephants and the well-being & S. Thapa of rural communities in Wayanad. In this article Using community knowledge to identify we identify the current conservation issues potential hotspots of mammal diversity in and recommend future management of Asian southeastern Nepal elephants and their habitat in Wayanad. Biodiversity and Conservation 29 (2020) 933- 946 L. Baker & R. Winkler Abstract. No permission to print the abstract. Asian elephant rescue, rehabilitation and rewilding N.R. Anoop & T. Ganesh Animal Sentience 5 (28) (2020) e296 The forests and elephants of Wayanad: Abstract. Thailand has fewer than 10,000 Challenges for future conservation elephants left. More of them are living in captivity Current Science 118 (2020) 362-367 to serve the tourist industry under grim conditions Abstract. The Wayanad district of Kerala, than are living free in what is left of their wild India, is an important conservation and cultural habitat. Conservation efforts need to be focused landscape located in the Western Ghats on all surviving members of the species, captive biodiversity hotspot. It is a slightly east-sloping and free, but they need to take into account plateau with a unique geographical feature of the inextricable entanglement of human and small rolling hills interspersed with low-lying nonhuman animal lives in Thailand today. There swamps and meandering streams. Extensive is an opportunity for rescuing, rehabilitating and deforestation that occurred in the last century reintroducing captive elephants to the wild with has severely fragmented and degraded the forest the help of the traditional expertise of a mahout of Wayanad, leaving it as a mosaic of forests, culture that has been elephant-keeping for wetlands, croplands and towns. The remaining centuries. We advocate a state of wildness that is forests in Wayanad are part of the Brahmagiri- meaningful to the elephants and can be attained Nilgiri-Eastern Ghats Elephant Landscape in a way in which both elephant and human (NEG), which holds the single largest contiguous cultures are valued. This would be far better than population of Asian elephants globally. The the status quo for the elephants, restoring to them NEG is prone to seasonal fuctuation in resource a life worth living. availability, where a large tract of dry forest reduces its carrying capacity for elephants during P. Bansiddhi, J.L. Brown, C. Thitaram, V. Punya- summer. The Wayanad forests are a critical pornwithaya & K. Nganvongpanit microhabitat for elephants in the NEG due to Elephant tourism in Thailand: A review of availability of fodder and perennial water sources animal welfare practices and needs during summer. Despite the importance of this Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 23

64 (2020) 164-177 elephants (Elephas maximus) to determine if Abstract. Elephant tourism in Thailand has they demonstrate innovative problem solving or developed into an important socio-economic social learning. One elephant solved the task on factor after a logging ban initiated in 1989 her own. Additionally, elephants at one zoo that resulted in thousands of out-of-work elephants. observed a conspecifc solve the task exhibited However, the welfare of captive elephants has increased interest in the task compared to been a topic of intense debate among tourists, baseline elephants, demonstrating social learning scientists and stakeholders because of the range via stimulus enhancement. Asian elephants are of working conditions and management practices capable of learning to use water as a tool, but the to which they are exposed. The aim of this paper cognitive abilities underpinning their ability to is to summarize the current state of knowledge solve the foating object task remain unclear. Our on captive elephant welfare, with an emphasis fndings may bolster support for the convergent on tourist elephants in Thailand, and highlight cognitive evolution of problem solving in information gaps and recommendations for future elephants and apes, but further research using directions. Tourist-oriented elephant camps additional paradigms is needed. could improve the welfare of elephants through better management practices that take into S. Biswas, S. Bhatt, S. Paul, S. Modi, T. Ghosh, account physiological and psychological needs B. Habib, P. Nigam, G. Talukdar, B. Pandav & S. of individual animals, including meeting social Mondol and nutritional requirements, providing good A practive faeces collection protocol for health care, and maintaining adequate facilities. multidisciplinary research in wildlife science Our goal is to develop science-based guidelines Current Science 116 (2019) 1878-1885 that government agencies can use to develop Abstract. Faecal samples have become an an enforceable set of practical regulations to important non- invasive source of information in ensure good management of tourist elephants in wildlife biology and ecological research. Despite Thailand. © 2019 Informa UK Limited. regular use of faeces, there is no universal protocol available for faeces collection and storage to L.P. Barrett & S. Benson-Amram answer various questions in wildlife biology. Can Asian elephants use water as a tool in the In this study we collected 1408 faeces from ten foating object task? different species using a dry sampling approach, Animal Behavior and Cognition 7 (2020) 310- and achieved 77.49% and 75.25% success rate in 326 mitochondrial and nuclear marker amplifcations Abstract. One of the greatest challenges in respectively. We suggest a universal framework comparative cognition is to design tasks that to use the same samples to answer different accurately assess cognitive abilities across a questions. This protocol provides an easy, quick diverse set of taxa with differing morphologies and cheap option to collect non-invasive samples and behaviors. The foating object task was from species living in different environmental designed to test insightful problem solving via conditions to answer multidisciplinary questions water tool use in animals but so far has been in wildlife biology. tested only in primates. In the foating object task, animals add water to a tube in order to H.M. Chel, R. Nakao, N. Ohsawa, Z.M. Oo, N. reach a foating food reward. A similar task, the Nonaka & K. Katakura Aesop’s fable task, which is solved by adding First record and analysis of the COI gene of stones to the tube, has been used with corvids Cobboldia elephantis obtained from a captive and raccoons in addition to human children. Asian elephant from Myanmar Elephants are considered to exhibit complex Parasitology International 75 (2020) e102035 cognitive abilities on par with primates, and they Abstract. The stomach bot fy species in Asian possess a prehensile trunk appendage well-suited elephants has long been known as Cobboldia for tests of water tool use. Here, we presented elephantis. However, there is no genetic the foating object task to 12 zoo-housed Asian information available for this species to date.

65 Here, we report that a third-instar fy larva was main part of the Chandaka Sanctuary and its near- excreted from a captive Asian elephant four detached reserved forests in Jagannathprasad- months after export from an elephant camp Bharatpur, the study recommends removal of feral in Myanmar to a zoological garden in Japan. cattle, extensive plantations, and construction Morphological characteristics of the larva were of a fy-over for vehicular traffc. © 2020 The coincident with published descriptions of C. Authors. elephantis. The mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene was amplifed from N. Ertl, P. Wendler, E. Sós, M. Flügger, F. the larva by PCR using primers modifed from Schneeweis, C. Schiffmann, J.-M. Hatt & M. those designed for DNA barcoding of insects Clauss and amphibians. The COI gene of C. elephantis Theory of medical scoring systems and a showed 76.6 % and 83.6 % identity at the practical method to evaluate Asian elephant nucleotide and amino acid levels, respectively, to (Elephas maximus) foot health in European that of C. loxodontis, the stomach bot fy species zoos in African elephants. Phylogenetic analysis of Animal Welfare 29 (2020) 163-176 the COI genes of several stomach bot fy species Abstract. Several established models in human revealed that the two Cobboldia species formed and veterinary medicine exist to evaluate an a clade separate from the stomach bot fy species individual health or disease status. Many of these found in rhinoceros and equids. © 2019 Reprinted seem unsuitable for further epidemiological with permission from Elsevier. research aimed at discovering underlying infuential factors. As a case example for score S. Debata & K.K. Swain development and choice, the present study analyses Mammalian fauna in an urban in uenced zone different approaches to scoring the foot health of Chandaka-Dampara Wildlife Sanctuary in of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) living in Odisha, India European facilities. Sum scores with varying Journal of Threatened Taxa 12 (2020) 15767-75 degree of detail, and without or with a weighting Abstract. A camera trapping survey to estimate method, were compared using descriptive the species richness and relative abundance statistics, ie kurtosis, skewness, Shannon entropy, of different mammalian fauna and various total redundancy, their maximum and their actual anthropogenic activities was carried out for ranges. With increasing score complexity, a four months within an urban infuenced zone of higher level of differentiation was reached. In Chandaka-Dampara Wildlife Sanctuary, Odisha. parallel, the distribution of score frequencies in The survey extended over 120 days in January– the population shifted systematically: with the April 2019 over 10% of the total sanctuary area. least complex scoring model the pattern indicated With nine cameras and a total effort of 771 trap a severely unhealthy population with an opposite days, 2,855 independent photographs including skew to a hypothetically healthy population, 14 species of wild mammals and birds, human whereas the most complex scoring model traffc, and movement of stray animals were indicated a mildly affected population with a captured. Among the mammalian fauna, golden skew corresponding to that expected for a healthy jackal was the most photographed species population. We propose the latter, in the form of whereas the Asian elephant, striped hyaena, and the Particularised Severity Score (ParSev), which common palm civet were the least photographed accounts for every nail and pad individually species. Various anthropogenic activities like and weights the sub-scores by squaring, as the intensive movement of departmental vehicles, most relevant score for further investigations, staff, feral livestock, and stray dogs and cats either in assessing changes within an elephant were also recorded and these activities need to population over time, or correlating foot health in be addressed in management activities for long epidemiological studies to potentially infuencing term conservation of the area and its mammalian factors. Our results emphasise the relevance of fauna. In order to enhance biological connectivity choosing appropriate scoring models for welfare- and improve movement of wildlife between the associated evaluations, due to implications for

66 the applicability as well as the perceived welfare self-medicating behavior. The tonic use category status of the test population. © 2020 Universities shows the strongest evidence of infuence from Federation for Animal Welfare. observations of elephant self-medication. The use of tonic medicines appears to be increasing A.M. Greene, P. Panyadee, A. Inta & M.A. as a way to mitigate the unnaturally limited diet Huffman of elephants in tourist camps. Ethnoveterinary Asian elephant self-medication as a source medicine for elephant care is infuenced by of ethnoveterinary knowledge among Karen both human medicinal knowledge and elephant mahouts in northern Thailand knowledge of plants for self-medication. The J. of Ethnopharmacology 259 (2020) e112823 ethnoveterinary knowledge domain appears to Abstract. Ethnoveterinary medicine is often be the result of an interactive process linked to assumed to be a subset of human medicinal convergent evolution or co-evolution between knowledge. Here we investigate the possibility humans and Asian elephants. © 2020 Reprinted that some ethnoveterinary medicine rather with permission from Elsevier. originates from observations of animal self- medication. We document and analyze the T. Guntawang, T. Sittisak, S. Srivorakul, ethnoveterinary medicine used by Karen mahouts V. Kochagul, K. Photichai, C. Thitaram, N. for elephant care and attempt to determine Sthitmatee, W.-L. Hsu & K. Pringproa whether this knowledge originated from humans In vivo characterization of target cells for or elephants. Elephant camp owners and mahouts acute elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus in four communities in northern Thailand were (EEHV) infection in Asian elephants (Elephas interviewed about their knowledge and use of maximus) plants for ethnoveterinary elephant care. For Scientifc Reports 10 (2020) e11402 each ethnoveterinary plant, data were collected Abstract. Elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus- on Karen human medicinal uses and whether hemorrhagic disease (EEHV-HD) is a dangerous elephants independently consume them. Based viral infectious disease in young Asian elephants. on overlaps between ethnoveterinary use, human Despite hypotheses underlying pathogenesis of medicinal use and elephant dietary use, plants the disease, it is unclear which cell types the virus were classifed into three categories: those targets during acute or persistent infections. This that originated from Karen human medicine, study investigated the tissues and target cells those that originated from Asian elephant self- permissive for EEHV infection and replication medication, and those which were present in in vivo. Rabbit polyclonal antibodies against both human and elephant knowledge traditions. the non-structural proteins of EEHV, DNA The use of 34 plants (32 identifed at least to polymerase (EEHV DNAPol), were generated genus) and two additional non-plant remedies and validated. These were used to examine (salt and human urine) were reported to be used EEHV infection and replication in various tissues in ethnoveterinary elephant medicine. A total of of acute EEHV-HD cases and compared to an 44 treatments in 11 use categories were recorded: EEHV-negative control. The results indicated tonic, wounds, compress, eye problems, that viral antigens were distributed throughout indigestion, broken bones, galactagogue, the epithelia of the alimentary tract and salivary snakebite, fatigue, skin and musth regulation. Of glands, endothelia and smooth muscle cells, and the ethnoveterinary plants, 55% had the same use monocytic lineage cells of the EEHV-infected in human medicine, 43% had different uses and elephants. Moreover, EEHV DNAPol proteins 2% had no use. Elephants consume 84% of the were also found in the bone marrow cells of the ethnoveterinary plants as part of their natural diet. EEHV1A-HD and EEHV1A/4-HD cases. This Analysis indicates that 32% of plant uses likely study demonstrated for the frst time the target originated from Karen human medicine, 60% of cells that favor in vivo EEHV replication during plant uses likely existed independently in both acute infection, providing a promising foundation human and elephant knowledge systems, and for investigating EEHV propagation in vitro. © 8% of plant uses likely originated from elephant 2020 Authors.

67 H. Hoelzig, T. Muenster, S. Blanke, G. Kloess, structures. We interviewed 324 rice farmers at R. Garmasukis & A. Koenig seven sites in southern Sri Lanka to determine Ivory vs. osseous ivory substitutes – Non- challenges to rice production in the region and invasive diffractometric discrimination the propensity for human wildlife confict. Forensic Science International 308 (2020) Farmers (80%) reported wildlife including e110159 peafowl (Pavo cristatus) and other birds, as well Abstract. A new discrimination method for as free-ranging (semi-) domestic animals such the bioapatite materials bone, antler and ivory as buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), as their principal was developed using X-ray diffractometry and biotic constraints across sites, with relatively comprises non-invasive measurements in order to few farmers regarding weeds, insect pests, or take valuable objects into account. Our approach diseases as a constraint (mentioned by 25% of deals with the analysis of peak intensity ratios farmers in total). Farmers near wilderness areas resulting from several measurements on each reported elephants (Elephas maximus) and wild object. For instance, the intensity ratio of the boar (Sus scrofa) as major constraints to rice apatite refections 002 and 310 has been described production. 64% of farmers had received training in the literature as representing the degree of from government and other support agencies apatite crystal orientation and varies depending during the fve years prior to our survey. Training on the sample orientation. The decisive factor for mainly addressed insect pests and diseases and the material identifcation is the value dispersion focused on lethal product-based solutions (88% of intensity ratios resulting from the total of all of training). Farmers did not receive support or measurements on one object. This pattern of data advice to mitigate crop foraging and human- points, visualised via kernel density estimation wildlife confict; instead, farmers relied heavily (KDE), is characteristic for ivory, bone and antler, on repellence (human activated) responses, such respectively, and enables the discrimination of as early warning systems and active scaring. these materials. The observation is justifable We suggest that Agriculture, Development since apatite crystal orientation adapts to the and Wildlife authorities might increase collagen fbre arrangement which shows major intergovernmental cooperation and coordination differences between different sorts of bioapatite of farmer training to better manage crop foraging materials. The patterns of data points were in our study region. We present a review of received via analysis of 88 objects made of bone possible non-lethal, farm-based methods that (n = 30), antler (n = 27) and ivory (n = 31). In could be promoted during training programs order to verify several identifcations X-ray for farmers facing challenges from wildlife in computer tomography was supplemented. The such a biologically diverse region. Currently, a presented method usefully supplements already wide range of low-cost avoidance, barrier and existing approaches concerning microscopic, deterrence systems (that are not monitored or elementary and biochemical analyses. © 2020 activated by humans) are available. These can Reprinted with permission from Elsevier. be used to avoid harmful repellence practices. © 2019 Reprinted with permission from Elsevier. F.G. Horgan & E.P. Kudavidanage Farming on the edge: Farmer training S.R. Hota, S. Sahoo, M. Dash, A. Pahar, B. to mitigate human-wildlife confict at an Mohanty & N. Sahoo agricultural frontier in south Sri Lanka Molecular detection of Murshidia linstowi in a Crop Protection 127 (2020) e104981 free-ranging dead elephant calf Abstract. Efforts to increase food production Journal of Threatened Taxa 12 (2020) 15359- across Asia have relied on the intensifcation 15363 of established farms, as well as the expansion Abstract. Gastrointestinal helminths are of farming activities into previously wild ubiquitous in both domestic and wild animals. areas. Farms at agricultural frontiers face Infections are often sub-clinical except in distinct challenges from those in historically circumstances of destabilization of host-parasite farmed regions and require distinct support equilibrium by innate or environmental factors.

68 The present case deals with microscopic and conservation priority landscapes in India, the molecular diagnosis of Murshidia linstowi Western Ghats (WG) and Central India (CI). recovered from an elephant. A post-mortem Using an agent-based model we simulated examination of a free-ranging juvenile male movement and dispersal of fve wide-ranging elephant calf that had died of electrocution in species in WG (elephant, gaur, leopard, sambar Athagarh Wildlife Division revealed the presence and sloth bear) and four in CI (gaur, leopard, of slender, whitish nematodes in the stomach. sambar and sloth bear). For each species we No gross lesions were noticed either in the site compared movement in the presence and absence of predilection or any other internal organs. of land-use land-cover, infrastructure and human The average length of the parasites was 3.8cm. population to identify areas where movement These parasites were collected for further gross is impeded and reduced due to high-resistance as well as microscopic examination following features; unrestricted due to relatively low- routine parasitological techniques. Temporary resistance features; and increased and channelled mounts prepared after cleaning the nematodes in due to surrounding high-resistance areas. In both lactophenol were observed under a microscope. landscapes, median movement was reduced. Morphological features such as a well-developed Human land-use, human population and high mouth collar, large and globular buccal capsule linear infrastructure density contribute the with fne tubercles, cone shaped oesophageal highest to impeded movement for all species. funnel, short bursa having indistinctly divided Natural areas constitute only 20–55% and 50– lobes and closely apposed ventral rays and stout 70% of unrestricted, increased and channelled spicules with club shaped tips bent dorsally movement areas in WG and CI respectively. corroborated with that of M.linstowi (male). This suggests that a large percentage of the Amplifcation of the rDNA from the internal landscape crucial for maintaining movement is transcribed spacer (ITS) region using universal not completely permeable. Such areas are often nematode primers NC2 and NC5 revealed a neglected in conservation planning. Our spatially product size of 870 bp. The PCR product was explicit results help identify and prioritize subjected to sequencing followed by NCBI- areas where restoration or mitigation should be BLAST which revealed 98% homology with planned to improve permeability to movement M. linstowi. A phylogenetic study showed a for large mammals. Our approach can be used for maximum similarity with M.linstowi recovered other landscapes where data on large mammal from elephants in Kenya. This particular nematode movement is lacking. © 2020 Reprinted with species belonging to the family Strongylidae and permission from Elsevier. sub-family Cyathostominae appears to be the frst documented report in India. © 2020 The Authors. J. Kambe, Y. Sasaki, R. Inoue, S. Tomonaga, T. Kinjo, G. Watanabe, W. Jin & K. Nagaoka A. Jayadevan, R. Nayak, K.K. Karantha, J. Analysis of infant microbiota composition and Krishnaswamy, R. De Fries, K.U. Karantha & S. the relationship with breast milk components Vaidyanathan in the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) at Navigating paved paradise: Evaluating the Zoo landscape permeability to movement for Journal of Veterinary Medical Science 82 (2020) large mammals in two conservation priority 983-989 landscapes in India Abstract. The prevention of diseases through Biological Conservation 247 (2020) e108613 health control is essential at zoos. Recently, the Abstract. Human land use and activity results gut microbiota, which is an ecosystem consisting in the loss of habitat and biodiversity, and alters of the bacteria living in the digestive tract, has how animals move through landscapes. Spatially been found to be one of the key systems that explicit information on where animal movement mediates animal health. However, there is little is affected at large spatial scales is crucial for basic knowledge about gut microbiota in zoo prioritizing conservation efforts. We evaluated animals, particularly the relationship between landscape permeability to movement in two mothers and infants during lactation. Here, we

69 investigated the formation of the gut microbiota and receive ex-gratia payments from the Indian during infancy in an Asian elephant (Elephas government. In 48 months of operation, Wild maximus) in Okinawa Zoo and compared the Seve fled and tracked 13,808 claims on behalf composition between infant and mother. In of those affected from 19 forest ranges around addition, we analyzed the components of breast the Bandipur and Nagarahole National Parks in milk and examined the correlation with the Karnataka, India. This included 10,082 incidents infant gut microbiota. Analysis revealed that of crop loss, 1,176 property damage incidents, the gut microbiota of the infant contained high and 1,720 incidents where crop and property loss amount of Lactobacillales and its diversity was occurred together. Wild Seve also fled claims for relatively low compared to that of the mother. 782 livestock predation incidents, and assisted We found several milk components, such as in 45 human injury incidents and three human lactose, threonine and estradiol-17β, which fatalities. Elephant related losses comprised showed a positive correlation with the change 93.9%, and big cat losses comprised 5.5% of of Lactobacillales during the lactation period. reported cases. Wild Seve provides an immediate In conclusion, the present study sheds light on response to human-wildlife confict incidents and the mechanism of gut microbiota formation improves access to ex-gratia payment schemes. during infancy in an Asian elephant and provides Wild Seve is a low cost intervention that uses important insights into the health control of Asian open-source technology and leverages existing elephants in zoos. © 2020 Japanese Society of policies to facilitate ex-gratia payments. The Veterinary Science. Wild Seve model of monitoring and addressing human-wildlife confict is adaptable and scalable S. Kandel, S. Sripiboon, P. Jenjaroenpun, D.W. to high confict regions globally, to the beneft of Ussery, I. Nookaew, M.S. Robeson II, & T. people and wildlife. © 2020 The Authors. Wongsurawata 16S rRNA gene amplicon profling of baby N. Kido, S. Tanaka, T. Omiya, Y. Kamite, K. and adult captive elephants in Thailand Sawada, Y. Komatsu, Y. Shoji, M. Senzaki, S. Microbiology Resource Announcements 9 (2020) Hanzawa, M. Ando & I. Suto e00248-20 Emotion estimation using a wearable heart Abstract. Here, we present a 16S rRNA rate monitoring device in Asian elephants gene amplicon sequence data set and profles (Elephas maximus) during veterinary clinical demonstrating the bacterial diversity of baby and procedures adult elephants from four different geographical Journal of Veterinary Medical Science 82 (2020) locations in Thailand. The dominant phyla among 856-860 baby and adult elephants were Bacteroidetes, Abstract. Fatal accidents in captive elephants Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Kiritimatiellaeota, occasionally occur because humans are Euryarchaeota, and Tenericutes. © 2020 The unable to gauge elephants’ emotions solely Authors. by their behavior. The intellectual capacity of elephants makes them capable of understanding Krithi K. Karanth & Anubhav Vanamamalai circumstantial changes and associated emotions, Wild seve: A novel conservation intervention allowing them to react accordingly. Physiological to monitor and address human-wildlife confict markers, such as heart rate variability, may be Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 8 (2020) effective in determining an elephant’s emotional e198 state. In this study, a wearable heart rate monitor Abstract. Human-wildlife interactions resulting was used to determine the emotional state of a in confict remains a global conservation female Indian captive elephant (Elephas maximus challenge, requiring innovative solutions to indicus). The average heart rate was higher when ensure the persistence of wildlife amidst people. the elephant underwent painful treatment than Wild Seve was established in July 2015 as a when it underwent non-painful treatment. In conservation intervention program to assist people addition, the heart rate increased both before and affected by confict to fle and monitor claims after the treatment, which included radiography

70 and blood collection. © 2020 Japanese Society of Abstract. Small-sized protected areas face Veterinary Science. increasing pressures from developmental activities and are often rendered inadequate R. Kobayashi, K. Nagaoka, N. Nishimura, S. and isolated to conserve wide-ranging species. Koike, E. Takahashi, K. Niimi, H. Murase, T. However, in situations where wildlife persists Kinjo, T. Tsukahara & Ryo Inoue outside protected areas, conservation goals Comparison of the fecal microbiota of two may be met by aligning the ecological needs of monogastric herbivorous and fve omnivorous wildlife with the socio-economic needs of local mammals communities and offsetting losses arising due Animal Science Journal 91 (2020) e13366 to shared spaces. We explore the potential of a Abstract. Fecal microbiota in seven different tea-plantation dominated landscape of multiple monogastric animal species, elephant, horse, land-use in north-eastern India to conserve the human, marmoset, mouse, pig and, rat were Asian elephant and the Indian leopard. We assess compared using the same analytical protocol conservation potential by identifying predictors of 16S rRNA metagenome. Fecal microbiota of species use of particular habitats using species in herbivores showed higher alpha diversity distribution models and identify challenges by than omnivores except for pigs. Additionally, reviewing the available literature. Elephants principal coordinate analysis based on weighted used ~680 km2 of this 1200 km2 non-forested UniFrac distance demonstrated that herbivores landscape; within this area, habitats with a higher and pigs clustered together, whereas other proportion of deciduous forest patches were animal species were separately aggregated. In favored. Leopards were found to be ubiquitous view of butyrate- and lactate-producing bacteria, in tea-plantation and used ~950 km2 of the study predominant genera were different depending on area, with the proportion of tea cover being the animal species. For example, the abundance of single best predictor of leopard habitat-use. With Faecalibacterium, a known butyrate producer, more than 30 human deaths and 100 injuries per was 8.02% ± 3.22% in human while it was less year caused by these two species in the study area than 1% in other animal species. Additionally, alone, the high frequency of human casualties Bifdobacterium was a predominant lactate and economic losses remain the prime hurdles producer in human and marmoset, while it to long-term conservation efforts. We discuss was rarely detected in other omnivores. The specifc mitigation measures to reduce human abundance of lactate-producing bacteria in casualties and call for the inclusion of important herbivores was notably lower than omnivores. stakeholders in the mitigation process. The study On the other hand, herbivores as well as pig provides a template for identifying conservation- possess Fibrobacter, a cellulolytic bacterium. compatible landscapes outside protected areas This study demonstrated that fecal microbiota and a framework for identifying challenges in herbivorous animals is similar, sharing some and potential to mitigate current or future common features such as higher alpha diversity conservation conficts. © 2020 The Authors. and higher abundance of cellulolytic bacterium. On the other hand, omnivorous animals seem A. Larramendi, H. Zhang, M.R. Palombo & M.P. to possess unique fecal microbiota. It is of Ferretti interest that pigs, although omnivore, have fecal The evolution of Palaeoloxodon skull struc- microbiota showing some common features with ture: Disentangling phylogenetic, sexually herbivores. © 2020 The Authors. dimorphic, ontogenetic, and allometric morphological signals A. Kshettry, S. Vaidyanathan, R. Sukumar & V. Quaternary Science Reviews 229 (2020) e106090 Athreya Abstract. This paper presents a reappraisal of Looking beyond protected areas: Identifying evolution in the extinct Pleistocene straight- conservation compatible landscapes in agro- tusked elephant Palaeoloxodon, based on cranial forest mosaics in north- eastern India morphology. Particular emphasis is given to Global Ecology and Conserv. 22 (2020) e00905 the parieto-occipital crest (POC), a specialised

71 structure of the Palaeoloxodon skull. A key aim during Eurasian Palaeoloxodon evolution. © of this contribution is to discuss the systematic 2019 Reprinted with permission from Elsevier. signifcance of the so-called “Stuttgart” and “namadicus” cranial morphs among Eurasian V.P.W. Loke, T. Lim & A. Campos-Arceiz Palaeoloxodon. Materials examined and Hunting practices of the Jahai indigenous discussed mostly represent large-sized continental community in northern peninsular Malaysia species from several Afro-Eurasian localities, but Global Ecology and Conservation 21 (2020) includes also the small-sized endemic elephant e00815 Palaeoloxodon cf. mnaidriensis from the late Abstract. Humans have been part of the ecology Middle-early Late Pleistocene of Sicily. In Africa, of Southeast Asian rainforests for millennia. where the lineage originated, the morphological Understanding the hunting practices of forest- evolution of Palaeoloxodon concerned both skull dwelling people is important for designing policies and molariform teeth, which became strongly and practices aimed to protect both vulnerable hypsodont and bore up to 19 lamellae. This dental wildlife populations and human communities. morphology underwent little notable evolutionary The Jahai people are forest-dwelling hunter- change in Eurasian Palaeoloxodon, contrasting to gatherers living in northern Peninsular Malaysia the marked disparity in their cranial morphology, and believed to be direct descendants of the frst best elucidated by variations in the POC. anatomically modern humans that arrived to the Maturation of a strong POC in Palaeoloxodon Malay Peninsula at least 50,000 years ago. We antiquus, P. namadicus and P. cf. mnaidriensis conducted semi-structured interviews in three (Puntali Cave, Sicily) during ontogeny shows a Jahai villages around the Royal Belum State consistent pattern: incipient folding at the M1 Park, asking about their knowledge and hunting stage; complete folding at the M2 stage; further habits of 11 wild mammal species. Specifcally, downward migration of the POC towards the we asked whether they were able to identify and nasals at the M3 stage. The POC morphology whether they hunted the 11 animals, their relative and variation result from complex interactions prey preference, perceived trends of the animals’ of factors, which include, to varying degrees, populations, and how they hunted and handled ontogeny (juvenile vs adult), allometry (e.g. them. Our respondents were familiar with all the skull size and shape) and possible phylogenetic species in the survey. None of the 87 respondents inertia. Some evidence of sexual dimorphism in claimed to hunt tigers and elephants. The most POC development is observed in P. namadicus, preferred and commonly hunted species were P. naumanni, and possibly P. antiquus, this is medium-sized arboreal animals (gibbons and a possible allometric effect which refects on giant squirrels, hunted by >80% of respondents), the markedly greater body size of males at full whereas larger and more dangerous animals maturity compared to females. Skull shape and (gaur, sun bear, and tapir) were only hunted by a variability of the POC, as well as postcranial minority (<10%). The Jahai use traditional hunting proportions, support the specifc separation of methods, mainly blowpipes, spears, traditional P. namadicus and P. antiquus. However, the snares, and fre traps (for smoking animals out of observed pattern of intrapopulational POC burrows). Only two respondents reported using variability from German and Italian P. antiquus frearms. Elephant numbers were perceived to samples does not support a turnover of the two be stable; all the other species were perceived distinct Palaeoloxodon species in Europe during to be declining moderately. Almost all the meat the Middle Pleistocene (MIS 11–MIS 7). The caught by the Jahai is for self-consumption, poorly known P. turkmenicus might represent very little is traded with outsiders. The impacts a separate Middle Pleistocene Palaeoloxodon of Jahai hunting on wildlife populations remain species from Central Asia more plesiomorphic unclear, but our study provides a fundamental than either P. antiquus or P. namadicus. P. understanding of Jahai hunting practices for naumanni from Japan possesses a combination of future management and conservation purposes. primitive and derived, autapomorphic characters, © 2019 The Authors. supporting its interpretation as an early offshoot

72 F. Li, S. Lu, X. Xie, S. Fan, D. Chen, S. Wu & This has resulted in numerous successes bringing J. He back populations from the brink of extinction by Antiviral properties of extracts of Streptomyces the reintroduction or restoration of animals from sp. SMU 03 isolated from the feces of Elephas conservation breeding programmes. Controlled maximus breeding of wildlife by humans is discussed Fitoterapia 143 (2020) e104600 controversially in society and in scientifc Abstract. Actinobacteria are historically and circles and it faces a number of signifcant continued to be an important source for drug challenges. When natural breeding fails, Assisted discovery. The annual epidemics and periodic Reproduction Technologies (ART) have been pandemics of humans induced by infuenza A postulated to increase reproductive output virus (IAV) prompted us to develop new effective and maintain genetic diversity. Furthermore, antiviral drugs with different modes of action. An technical advances have improved the potential actinobacterium of Streptomyces sp. SMU 03 was for successful collection and cryopreservation of identifed from the feces of Elephas maximus in gametes and embryos in many wildlife species. Yunnan Province, China. By employing an H5N1 With the aim of creating a better understanding of pseudo-typed virus drug screening system, the why ex situ and in situ conservation of threatened anti-IAV effect of the dichloromethane extracts species must complement each other, and under (DCME) of this bacterium was investigated. which circumstances ART provide additional DCME showed broad and potent activities against tools in the rescue of a threatened population, we several infuenza viruses, including the H1N1 elucidate the current situation here by using as and H3N2 subtypes and infuenza B virus, with examples three different megavertebrate families: IC50 values ranging from 0.37 ± 0.22 to 14.44 elephantidae, rhinoceridae and giraffdae. These ± 0.79 μg/ml. A detailed modes-of-action study mammal families consist of charismatic species, indicated that DCME might interact with the and most of their members are currently facing HA2 subunit of hemagglutinin (HA) of IAV by dramatic declines in population numbers. On the interrupting the fusion process between the viral basis of these and other examples, we highlight and host cells’ membranes thereby inhibiting the the importance of captive zoo and other managed entry of the virus into host cells. Furthermore, the wildlife populations for species survival in a in vivo anti-IAV activity test of DCME showed human dominated world. Without the possibility that compared with the no-drug treated group, to study reproductive physiology in trained or the survival rates, appearances, weights, lung habituated captive individuals, major advances indices and histopathological changes were all made in wildlife ART during the past 20 years signifcantly alleviated. Based on these results, would not have been possible. This paper reviews the chemical constituent study of DCME was then the benefts and future challenges of large investigated, from which a number of antiviral mammal conservation breeding and examines compounds with various structural skeletons the role of assisted reproduction in such efforts. have been isolated and identifed. Overall, these © 2020 Reprinted with permission from Elsevier. data indicated that the DCME from Streptomyces sp. SMU 03 might represent a good source for C.L. Lynsdale, N.O. Mon, D.J. F. dos Santos, antiviral compounds that can be developed as H.H. Aung, U K. Nyein, W. Htut, D. Childs & potential antivirus remedies. © 2020 Reprinted V. Lummaa with permission from Elsevier. Demographic and reproductive associations with nematode infection in a long-lived Imke Lueders & W.R. Twink Allen mammal Managed wildlife breeding – An undervalued Scientifc Reports 10 (2020) e9214 conservation tool? Abstract. Infection by macroparasites, such as Theriogenology 150 (2020) 48-54 nematodes, varies within vertebrate host systems; Abstract. Knowledge of and the technologies elevated infection is commonly observed in and resources applied to the ex situ care for juveniles and males, and, for females, with wildlife have improved greatly in recent years. different reproductive states. However, while

73 such patterns are widely recognized in short- died from the same herpesvirus disease that has lived model systems, how they apply to long- afficted young Asian elephants in other countries lived hosts is comparatively understudied. Here, over the past 20 years. we investigated how infection varies with host age, sex, and female reproduction in a semi- H. Padalia, S. Ghosh, C.S. Reddy, S. Nandy, S. captive population of individually marked Asian Singh & A.S. Kumar elephants Elephas maximus. We carried out 1,977 Assessment of historical forest cover loss and faecal egg counts (FECs) across fve years to fragmentation in Asian elephant ranges in estimate nematode loads for 324 hosts. Infection India patterns followed an established age-infection Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 191 curve, whereby calves (5 years) exhibited the (2019) e802 highest FECs and adults (45 years) the lowest. Abstract. No permission to print the abstract. However, males and females had similar FECs across their long lifespan, despite distinct S. Paudel & S. Sreevatsan differences in life-history strategy and clear sexual Tuberculosis in elephants: Origins and dimorphism. Additionally, although mothers evidence of interspecies transmission invest two years in pregnancy and a further three Tuberculosis 123 (2020) e101962 to fve years into lactation, nematode load did Abstract. Tuberculosis (TB) is a devastating not vary with four different measures of female disease in elephants caused by either Myco- reproduction. Our results provide a much-needed bacterium tuberculosis or M. bovis. It is an insight into the host-parasite dynamics of a long- ancient disease, and TB in elephants was lived host; determining host-specifc associations frst reported over two millennia ago in Sri with infection in such systems is important for Lanka. Outbreaks of TB worldwide, in captive broadening our knowledge of parasite ecology and free-ranging elephant populations, have and provides practical applications for wildlife been recorded. Interspecies transmission of medicine and management. © 2020 The Authors. TB among elephants and humans has been confrmed in several geographic localities using Z.M. Oo, Y.H. Aung, T.T. Aung, N. San, Z.M. spoligotyping, MIRU-VNTR analysis, and/ Tun, G.S. Hayward & A. Zachariah or comparative genomics. Active surveillance Elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus hem- of TB in wild and captive elephants and their orrhagic disease in Asian elephant calves in handlers is necessary to prevent TB transmission logging camps, Myanmar at the elephant-human interface and to aid in the Emerging Infectious Diseases 26 (2020) 63-69 conservation of Asian and African elephants. In Abstract. In recent years, an alarming number this review, we present an overview of diagnosis, of cases of lethal acute hemorrhagic disease reports of TB outbreaks in the past 25 years, TB have occurred in Asian elephant calves raised in in wild elephants, its transmission, and possible logging camps in Myanmar. To determine whether prevention and control strategies that can be these deaths were associated with infection by applied at the elephant-human interface. © 2020 elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV), Reprinted with permission from Elsevier. we conducted diagnostic PCR subtype DNA sequencing analysis on necropsy tissue samples M. Perera & R. Vandercone collected from 3 locations. We found that EEHV Some aspects of seed dispersal by Asian DNA from 7 PCR loci was present at high levels elephants (Elephas maximus) in Kaudulla in all 3 calves and was the same EEHV1A virus National Park, Sri Lanka type that has been described in North America, Current Science 118 (2020) 648-654 Europe, and other parts of Asia. However, when Abstract. Our understanding of the qualitative analyzed over 5,610 bp, the strains showed and quantitative aspects of seed dispersal by major differences from each other and from all Asian elephants is at its infancy. We explored previously characterized EEHV1A strains. We some of these aspects at Kaudulla National conclude that these 3 elephant calves in Myanmar Park, Sri Lanka, focusing on the germination

74 potential of dispersed seeds, and the infuence rainforest during the earliest Pleistocene, while of gut passage on germination and latency in towards the late Early Pleistocene, the successive the seeds of Bauhinia racemosa. Seeds of ten taxon, Sinomastodon bumiajuensis, was adapted species were dispersed and their germination to different or increasingly drier grassy habitats. potential was generally poor. However, gut C4 expansion on the island took place since the passage signifcantly reduced the latency period later part of the Early Pleistocene (before 1.5 Ma) of B. racemosa. Long-term research on frugivory, and continued until the Middle Pleistocene, as passage times of seeds and ranging behaviour suggested by the carbon and oxygen isotope will help develop wildlife management plans. composition of assemblages of proboscidean taxa from Sangiran, Kedung Brubus, Trinil, and M.J. Potoczniak, M. Chermak, L. Quarino, S.S. western Java, which also predominantly display

Tobe & J. Conte the expected range of C4-dominant feeders.

Development of a multiplex, PCR-based However, the occurrence of mixed C3/C4 feeder genotyping assay for African and Asian Proboscidea in the Ngandong Fauna suggests that elephants for forensic purposes fragmented dense evergreen forests, shrubby or International Journal of Legal Medicine 134 woodland vegetation reappeared towards the end (2020) 55–62 of the Middle Pleistocene. This environmental Abstract. No permission to print the abstract. shift is detected in the later stage of the Middle Pleistocene, as the dietary preference of all M.R. Puspaningrum, G.D. van den Bergh, A.R. analysed samples from individuals from this

Chivas, E. Setiabudi & I. Kurniawan age shifted back from a C4-dominated into a C3- Isotopic reconstruction of Proboscidean dominated diet, which suggests a change from a habitats and diets on Java since the Early dry to more humid climate conditions. © 2019 Pleistocene: Implications for adaptation and Reprinted with permission from Elsevier. extinction Quaternary Science Reviews 228 (2020) e106007 R. Rajapakse, K.L.T. Pham, K.J.K. Karuna- Abstract. Since its sub-aerial emergence, Java thilakea, S.P. Lawton & T.H. Leb has experienced multiple tectonic, geographic and Characterization and phylogenetic properties climatic changes, which affected the megafaunal of the complete mitochondrial genome of occupation, adaptation and succession. Six Fascioloides jacksoni (syn. Fasciola jacksoni) Proboscidean taxa have been found from various support the suggested intergeneric change localities throughout Java extending back to from Fasciola to Fascioloides (Platyhel- the Early to Late Pleistocene. The six taxa minthes: Trematoda: Plagiorchiida) are: Stegoloxodon indonesicus, Sinomastodon Infection Genetics and Evolution 82 (2020) bumiajuensis, pygmy Stegodon sp., Stegodon e104281 trigonocephalus, Elephas hysudrindicus and Abstract. Fascioloides jacksoni (syn. Fasciola Elephas maximus, in which respective taxa are jacksoni, Cobbold, 1869) (Platyhelminthes: included in successive faunal stages. The aim of Echinostomatoidea), is a liver fuke that causes this research was to reconstruct the succession severe morbidity and mortality of Asian elephants of Proboscidea in Java and the adaptation (Elephas maximus maximus). Understandings on of each taxon to environmental changes by molecular diagnosis, epidemiology, genetics and incorporating stable isotope analysis with the evolution of this fatworm are limited. In this fossil faunal record, geology and stratigraphy. study, we present the complete mitochondrial We conducted stable carbon (δ13C) and oxygen DNA (mt) sequence of 14,952 bp obtained (δ18O) isotope analysis of the carbonate phase in from an individual fuke and comparative the tooth enamel of six proboscidean taxa from characterization of mitogenomic features with numerous localities and ages. Our results suggest fasciolids, primarily, Fascioloides magna and that for the earliest terrestrial fauna from Java, other taxa in the superfamily Echinostomatoidea. represented by Stegoloxodon indonesicus, the Taxonomic relationship within and between feeding ecology was restricted to a closed canopy Echinostomatoidea, Opisthorchioidea and

75 Paramphistomoidea in the order Plagiorchiida, least two years and are long-lived and social. We are also taxonomically considered. The complete wanted to examine the ontogeny of trunk motor circular mt molecule of F. jacksoni contained 12 control and various behaviours in Asian elephant protein-coding, two ribosomal RNA, 22 transfer calves and see whether the former develops RNA genes, and a non-coding region (NCR) rich faster than the latter since limb motor control is in tandem repeat units. As common in digenean achieved soon after birth. We collected feld data trematodes, F. jacksoni has the usual gene order, on trunk use, lateralisation, and behaviours from the absence of atp8 and the overlapped region individually identifed, free-ranging elephants by 40 bp between nad4L and nad4 genes. The in southern India and examined how they were NCR located between tRNA(Glu) (trnE) and affected by age and other factors. Unlike limb cox3 contained nine nearly identical tandem motor control, we found trunk motor skills and repeat units (TRs of 113 bp each). Special DHU- behaviours to develop gradually with age. Trunk arm missing tRNAs for Serine were found for lateralisation occurred very early on, was not both, tRNA(S1(AGN)) and tRNA(S2(UCN)). highly dependent on trunk motor skills, and is Base composition indicated that cox1 of F. probably not a developmental marker in Asian jacksoni showed the lowest (11.8% to F. elephants. Adult-like behaviours that required magna, 12.9–13.6% to Fasciola spp. and 18.1% low trunk usage emerged within 3 months, while to Fasciolopsis buski) and nad6 the highest some feeding behaviours emerged later. Calves divergence rate (19.2%, 23.8–26.5% and 27.2% spent less time resting and more time feeding as to each fasciolid group), respectively. A clear they grew, and their activity budgets resembled bias in nucleotide composition, as of 61.68%, those of adults only after a year; hence, mother- 62.88% and 61.54%, with a negative AT-skew offspring behavioural synchrony was low for of the corresponding values (-0.523, -0.225 young calves and increased with age. Behavioural and -0.426) for PCGs, MRGs and mtDNA for development and trunk motor control in Asian F. jacksoni and likewise data for the fasciolids. elephants are both gradual processes, taking Phylogenetic analysis confrmed the sister about a year to mature. © 2020 UPV/EHU Press. branch of F. jacksoni and F. magna with the nodal support of 100%, clearly separated from S. Saaban, M.N. Yasak, M. Gumal, A. Oziar, F. the taxonomically recognized Fasciola spp. With Cheong, Z. Shaari, M. Tyson & S. Hedges the previous studies, mitogenomic data presented Viability and management of the Asian in this study are strongly supportive for Fasciola elephant (Elephas maximus) population in jacksoni reappraisal as Fascioloides jacksoni in the Endau Rompin landscape, Peninsular the Fascioloides genus. © 2020 Reprinted with Malaysia permission from Elsevier. PeerJ 8 (2020) e8209 Abstract. The need for conservation scientists T. Revathe, S. Anvitha & T.N.C. Vdiya to produce research of greater relevance to Development of motor control and behaviour practitioners is now increasingly recognized. This in Asian elephants in the Kabini elephant study provides an example of scientists working population, southern India alongside practitioners and policy makers to International Journal of Developmental Biology address a question of immediate relevance to 64 (2020) 377-392 elephant conservation in Malaysia and using the Abstract. Although neonates of precocial results to inform wildlife management policy mammals are capable of locomotory, sensory, and practice including the National Elephant nutritional, and thermoregulatory independence Conservation Action Plan for Peninsular to some extent soon after birth, they attain their Malaysia. Since ensuring effective conservation adult body mass more slowly than altricial of elephants in the Endau Rompin Landscape mammals, allowing for an extended period of (ERL) in Peninsular Malaysia is diffcult without learning or perfecting skills to an adult-like data on population parameters we (1) conducted degree. Asian elephants are precocial but are a survey to assess the size of the elephant nutritionally dependent on the mother for at population, (2) used that information to assess

76 the viability of the population under different modelling was used to identify how keeper-fed management scenarios including translocation of diet, water and soil were refected in sample elephants out of the ERL (a technique long used bio-indicators. No sample matrix refected the in Malaysia to mitigate human-elephant confict status of all assessed elements. Toenail was the (HEC)), and (3) assessed a number of options for best bio-indicator of intake for the most elements managing the elephant population and HEC in the reviewed in this study, with keeper-fed diet future. Our dung-count based survey in the ERL being the strongest predictor. Calcium status was produced an estimate of 135 (95% CI [80-225]) refected in faeces, (p 0.019, R2 between elephant elephants in the 2,500 km2 area. The population within zoo - 0.608). In this study urine was of is thus of national signifcance, containing no value in determining mineral status here and possibly the second largest elephant population plasma was of limited value. Results aimed to in Peninsular Malaysia, and with effective defne the most suitable bio-indicators to assess management elephant numbers could probably captive animal health and encourage onward double. We used the data from our survey plus application to wildlife management. © 2020 The other sources to conduct a population viability Authors. analysis to assess relative extinction risk under different management scenarios. Our results Willem Schaftenaar demonstrate that the population cannot sustain The challenge of obtaining reference values even very low levels of removal for translocation for use in captive animals like elephants or anything other than occasional poaching. We Veterinary Quarterly 40 (2020) 115-117 describe, therefore, an alternative approach, Abstract. none. informed by this analysis, which focuses on in situ management and non-translocation-based A. Sengupta, V.V. Binoy & . Radhakrishna methods for preventing or mitigating HEC. The Human-elephant confict in Kerala, India: A recommended approach includes an increase in rapid appraisal using compensation records law enforcement to protect the elephants and Human Ecology 48 (2020) 101-109 their habitat, maintenance of habitat connectivity Abstract. No permission to print the abstract. between the ERL and other elephant habitat, and a new focus on adaptive management.© 2020 N. Sharma, S.S. Pokharel, S. Kohshima & R. The Authors. Sukumar Behavioural responses of free-ranging Asian F. Sach, E.S. Dierenfeld, S.C. Langley-Evans, E. elephants (Elephas maximus) towards dying Hamilton, R.M. Lark, L. Yon & M.J. Watts and dead conspecifcs Potential bio-indicators for assessment of Primates 61 (2020) 129-138 mineral status in elephants Abstract. Reactions to dying and dead conspecifcs Scientifc Reports 10 (2020) e8032 have been observed in many non-human animals. Abstract. The aim of this study was two-fold: Elephants, particularly African elephants, are (1) identify suitable bio-indicators to assess thought to have an awareness of the death of elemental status in elephants using captive their conspecifcs, as they show compassionate elephant samples, and (2) understand how behaviour towards others in distress. However, geochemistry infuences mineral intake. Tail hair, there is a paucity of scientifc documentation toenail, faeces, plasma and urine were collected on thanatological responses displayed by Asian quarterly from 21 elephants at fve UK zoos. elephants. Here, we report three detailed, directly All elephant food, soil from enclosure(s), and observed cases of free-ranging Asian elephants drinking water were also sampled. Elemental (Elephas maximus) responding to dying and analysis was conducted on all samples, using dead conspecifcs. Behavioural responses were inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, recorded opportunistically and described as focusing on biologically functional minerals pre-, peri- and post-mortem phases based on (Ca, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, P, Se and Zn) and the status of the individual before, near or after trace metals (As, Cd, Pb, U and V). Linear mixed its death. In all three observations, elephants

77 showed approach and exploratory (sniffng the mean F0 and mean positions of F1 and and inspecting) behaviours, and epimeletic or F2 of rumbles decreased compared with the helping (physically supporting dying calves) in undisturbed condition; among trumpets, no pre- and peri-mortem phases. We also recorded signifcant differences were observed in mean F0 high-frequency vocalizations (trumpets) by an or formant position in either F1 or F2 between the adult female in the presence of a dying calf. two contexts. We also found that the duration of Our observations indicate that, like their African rumbles was infuenced by an interaction between counterparts, Asian elephants might experience group size and context: smaller groups produced distress in response to the death of conspecifcs, longer rumbles when disturbed. These results and may have some awareness of death. This suggest that when disturbed Asian elephants can information furthers our understanding of the modify vocal signals whose likely function could emotional and cognitive complexities of highly be to alert conspecifcs about potential threats. social elephants, and contributes to the growing © 2019 Reprinted with permission from the feld of elephant thanatology. © 2019 Japan Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Monkey Centre and Springer Japan KK. P. Sharma, S. Panthi, S.K. Yadav, M. Bhatta, A. N. Sharma, V. Prakash S., S. Kohshima & R. Karki, T. Duncan, M. Poudel & K.P. Acharya Sukumar Suitable habitat of wild Asian elephant in Asian elephants modulate their vocalizations Western Terai of Nepal when disturbed Ecology and Evolution 10 (2020) 6112-6119 Animal Behaviour 160 (2020) 99-111 Abstract. There is currently very little available Abstract. When disturbed, animals use various research on the habitat suitability, the infuence modes of communication to alert conspecifcs of infrastructure on distribution, and the extent about the source of danger. Some species have and connectivity of habitat available to the wild evolved graded or continuous signals specifc to Asian elephant (Elephas maximus). Information the type of threats. African elephants, Loxodonta related to the habitat is crucial for conservation of africana, are known to differentiate between this species. In this study, we identifed suitable threats from bees and humans by changing habitat for wild Asian elephants in the Western the energy concentrations of their alarm calls. Terai region of Nepal using Maximum Entropy However, the mechanism by which Asian (MaxEnt) software. Of 9,207 km2, we identifed elephants, Elephas maximus, use vocalizations to 3194.82 km2 as suitable habitat for wild Asian alert conspecifcs about imminent danger remains elephants in the study area. Approximately 40% poorly explored. To understand disturbance- of identifed habitat occurs in existing protected induced communication in free-ranging Asian areas. Most of these habitat patches are smaller elephants, we compared two call types, ‘rumbles’ than previous estimations of the species home (low-frequency calls) and ‘trumpets’ (high- range, and this may reduce the probability of frequency calls), produced in disturbed (by the species continued survival in the study area. humans or other animals) and undisturbed (social Proximity to roads was identifed as the most interaction) states. We then analysed acoustic important factor defning habitat suitability, with characters for both call types: absolute frequency elephants preferring habitats far from roads. parameters including fundamental frequency We conclude that further habitat fragmentation (F0), mean, minimum, maximum and range; in the study area can be reduced by avoiding temporal parameters including call duration, time the construction of new roads and connectivity to minimum F0, time to maximum F0, peak time between areas of existing suitable habitat can and minimum time; and flter-related parameters be increased through the identifcation and including mean, minimum and maximum of management of wildlife corridors between frst (F1) and second (F2) formant locations. habitat patches. © 2020 The Authors. We found that under disturbed conditions, Asian elephants increased the duration of rumbles and J.E. Smith, C.A. Ortiz, M.T. Buhbe & M. van decreased the duration of trumpets. Similarly, Vugt

78 Obstacles and opportunities for female leader- reports the mixed infection of wound and gastric ship in mammalian societies: A comparative myiasis due to C. bezziana and C. elephantis and perspective its histopathological lesions in wild elephants. © The Leadership Quarterly 31 (2020) e101267 2018 Indian Society for Parasitology. Abstract. Women remain universally under- represented in the top leadership positions. A S. Sripiboon, W. Ditcham, R. Vaughan- comparative evolutionary framework may offer Higgins, B. Jackson, I. Robertson, C. Thitaram, new insights into the value of and potential barriers T. Angkawanish, S. Phatthanakunanan, P. to female leadership. Here we defne leaders Lertwatcharasarakul & K. Warren as individuals who impose a disproportional Subclinical infection of captive Asian elephants infuence on the collective behaviors of group (Elephas maximus) in Thailand with elephant members. We reviewed data for 76 social endotheliotropic herpesvirus species of non-human mammals to reveal the Archives of Virology 165 (2020) 397-401 circumstances favoring female leadership and Abstract. No permission to print the abstract. species exhibiting female-biased leadership in two or more contexts (e.g., collective movements, K. Takehana, R, Kitani, K. Hatate, R, Onomi & group foraging, confict resolution within groups, N. Yamagishi or conficts between groups). Although rare Anthropometric and blood data on a hand- across the lineage, female-biased leadership is reared captive Asian elephant (Elephas pervasive in killer whales, lions, spotted hyenas, maximus) calf: A retrospective case report bonobos, lemurs, and elephants; leaders emerge J. of Vet. Medical Science 82 (2020) 943-947 without coercion and followers beneft from the Abstract. The anthropometric and blood data social support and/or ecological knowledge from of an unsuccessfully hand-reared Asian elephant elder females. Our synthesis elucidates barriers to (Elephas maximus) calf were retrospectively female leadership, but also reveals that traditional compared with the data for calves raised by their operationalizations of leadership are themselves real mothers or allomothers, to identify potential male-biased. We therefore propose a new agenda reasons for poor outcomes in the hand-reared for assessing the overlooked ways that females case. The hand-reared calf grew normally in terms exert infuence in groups. © 2018 Reprinted with of body weight and withers height. However, permission from Elsevier. blood biochemical data suggested reduced bone metabolism, low immune status, and malnutrition C. Soundararajan, K.P. Prabhu, K. Nagarajan & during its life. Blood bone markers were measured T. Divya to determine whether a skeletal disorder was Wound and gastric myiasis due to Chrysomyia present in the Asian elephant calf, which was not bezziana and Cobbaldia elephantis and its clear from the anthropometric data. Monitoring pathological lesions in wild elephants in the these parameters in hand-reared Asian elephant Nilgiris hills of Tamil Nadu calves, with the aim of keeping them within the Journal of Parasitic Diseases 43 (2019) 134-138 normal range, may increase the success rate of Abstract. Thirty-fve years old female and 12 hand-rearing of Asian elephant calves. © 2020 years old male wild elephant were found dead at The Japanese Society of Veterinary Science. Seviyodu and Cherangode of Cherambadi range at Nilgiris district, Tamil Nadu state. On post S.N. Teng, C. Xu, L. Teng & J.-C. Svenning mortem examination, maggots were recovered Long-term effects of cultural fltering on from palate of oral cavity and gastric mucosa megafauna species distributions across China of the stomach and identifed as Chrysomyia PNAS 117 (2020) 486-493 bezziana and Cobbaldia elephantis, respectively. Abstract. Human activities currently play a Histopathology of oral tissue specimen revealed dominant role in shaping and eroding Earth’s myonecrosis of soft palate due to myiasis and biodiversity, but the historical dynamics leading cross section of encysted larvae surrounded by to this situation are poorly understood and fbrous capsule and infammatory cells. This study contentious. Importantly, these dynamics are

79 often studied and discussed without an emphasis elephant Elephas maximus – a wide-ranging on cultural evolution, despite its potential species that needs landscape-scale conservation, importance for past and present biodiversity while also being an animal that is both culturally dynamics. Here, we investigate whether cultural revered and confict-prone. We instrumented fltering, defned as the impact of cultural semi-structured questionnaire surveys using evolution on species presence, has driven the a 5-point Likert score, to 2252 respondents range dynamics of fve historically widespread representing tea estate labour and management megafauna taxa (Asiatic elephant, rhinoceroses, across 17 estates in the Kaziranga–Karbi tiger, Asiatic black bear, and brown bear) Anglong landscape of Assam, Northeast India. across China over the past 2 millennia. Data Respondents were overwhelmingly positive on megafauna and sociocultural history were (80–98%) towards elephants notionally. In our compiled from Chinese administrative records. landscape, this stemmed more from cultural links While faunal dynamics in China are often linked and beliefs about the animal’s intrinsic right to to climate change at these time scales, our persist, rather than utilitarian benefts in terms of results reveal cultural fltering as the dominant ecosystem health. At localised scales, responses driver of range contractions in all fve taxa. This were more varied with issues relating to safety fnding suggests that the millennia-long spread of concerns and crop loss maximally inciting non- agricultural land and agricultural intensifcation, positive responses. Similarly, stakeholder attitudes often accompanied by expansion of the Han towards elephant conservation at localised scales culture, has been responsible for the extirpation were varied. Elephant use of lands outside of these megafauna species from much of forests, for instance, incited equivocal responses. China. Our results suggest that cultural fltering Interestingly, while safety concerns clearly limit is important for understanding society’s role in the potential for human-elephant co-occurrence, the assembly of contemporary communities stakeholders still believed that elephants do not from historical regional species pools. Our harm people unprovoked; this highlights the study provides direct evidence that cultural opportunities a culture of tolerance provides for evolution since ancient times has overshadowed stakeholder support of, and engagement with, climate change in shaping broadscale megafauna wildlife conservation. Ultimately, understanding biodiversity patterns, refecting the strong and stakeholder attitudes can determine our ability to increasing importance of sociocultural processes encourage ‘wildlife-friendly’ behavioural change in the biosphere. © 2020 National Academy of and shape human-wildlife interactions into the Sciences. future. © 2020 The Authors.

D.Vasudev, V.R. Goswami, P. Hait, P. Sharma, B. Z. Wang, Z. Li, Y. Tang, C. Yao, Y. Liu, G. Jiang, Joshi, Y. Karpate & P.K. Prasad F. Wang, L. Liang, W. Zhao, G. Zhu & M. Chen Conservation opportunities and challenges China’s dams isolate Asian elephants emerge from assessing nuanced stakeholder Science 367 (2020) 373-374 attitudes towards the Asian elephant in tea Abstract. none. estates of Assam, Northeast India Global Ecology and Conserv. 22 (2020) e00936 Abstract. Interactions between wildlife and people lie at the core of conservation planning in heterogeneous landscapes. Understanding stakeholder perspectives towards wildlife is a key endeavour in this regard. In particular, it can be useful to separate notional or generic attitudes towards wildlife, from those that pertain to more practical considerations at localised scales. We assessed nuances in stakeholder attitudes and underlying beliefs towards the endangered Asian Elephants at Minneriya National Park, Sri Lanka

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