ArticlePloS one2019
Individual and environmental risk factors associated with fecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations in zoo-housed Asian and African elephants.
Article in PloS one, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 43 citations in OpenAlex.
- Ambient fine particulate matter exposure influences oxidative stress and glucocorticoid concentrations in captive Asian elephants in Thailand.Conservation physiology · 2026Article
- Short-term ingestion of sublethal microcystin levels disrupts stress response in male mice.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2025Article
- Rapid post-release adaptation of released orphan elephants from a rescue centre to a national park in Sri Lanka based on faecal glucocorticoid metabolite analyses.Conservation physiology · 2025Article
- Nailing it: Investigation of elephant toenails for retrospective analysis of adrenal and reproductive hormones.Conservation physiology · 2024Article
- Article
- Elephants as an animal model for self-domestication.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Hormonal variation and temporal dynamics of musth in Asian elephants (Conservation physiology · 2023Article
- RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN REPRODUCTIVE AND BONE BIOMARKERS AND OSTEOARTHRITIS IN ZOO ASIAN (Journal of zoo and wildlife medicine : official publication of the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians · 2023Article
- Physiological plasticity in elephants: highly dynamic glucocorticoids in African and Asian elephants.Conservation physiology · 2023Article
- Seasonal variation in molecular and physiological stress markers in Asian elephants.Conservation physiology · 2023Article
- Social support correlates with glucocorticoid concentrations in wild African elephant orphans.Communications biology · 2022Article
- Characterization of Longitudinal Testosterone, Cortisol, and Musth in Male Asian Elephants (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Article
- Study of fecal glucocorticoid metabolites in captive Asian elephants in Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand.Veterinary world · 2022Article
- Article
- Clinical health issues, reproductive hormones, and metabolic hormones associated with gut microbiome structure in African and Asian elephants.Animal microbiome · 2021Article
- Effects of Positive Reinforcement Training and Novel Object Exposure on Salivary Cortisol Levels under Consideration of Individual Variation in Captive African Elephants (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2021Article
- Supporting Zoo Asian Elephant (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2021Article
- Public Feeding Interactions as Enrichment for Three Zoo-Housed Elephants.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2021Article
- Influence of handler relationships and experience on health parameters, glucocorticoid responses and behaviour of semi-captive Asian elephants.Conservation physiology · 2021Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
A recent large-scale welfare study in North America involving 106 Asian (Elephas maximus) and 131 African (Loxodonta africana) elephants at 64 accredited facilities identified links (i.e., risk factors) between zoo environmental factors and a number of welfare outcomes (stereotypic behavior, ovarian acyclicity, hyperprolactinemia, walking and recumbence, body condition, health status, serum cortisol). For this population of elephants, we used the same epidemiological methods to examine associations between those risk factors and two additional welfare outcomes, mean concentration and individual variability (CV) of fecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations (FGM) as indicators of stress. Results indicate that African elephants are more responsive to social stressors than Asians, and that poor joint health is a stress-related welfare problem for Asian, but not African elephants in the North American population. For both species, higher FGM concentrations were associated with zoos located at more northern latitudes, whereas lower FGM concentrations were associated with having free access to indoor/outdoor spaces, and spending more time in managed interactions with staff. Also important for captive management, elephants having diverse enrichment options and belonging to compatible social groups exhibited reduced intra-individual variability in FGM concentrations. Our findings show that aspects of the zoo environment can be potential sources of stress for captive elephants, and that there are management activities that may facilitate coping with zoo conditions. Given species differences in factors that affected FGM, targeted, species-specific management approaches likely are needed to ensure good welfare for all elephants.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.