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Research Papers

June 13, 2024

Impact of Weight Carriage on Joint Kinematics in Asian Elephants Used for Riding

Riding elephants is one of the most controversial activities in the tourist industry, with concerns over whether load carrying is physically harmful. Here, we used an empirical approach to test how carrying loads up to 15% of the elephant’s body mass affected gait parameters.
June 13, 2024

Effect of Tourist Activities on Fecal and Salivary Glucocorticoids and Immunoglobulin A in Female Captive Asian Elephants in Thailand

How tourist camp activities affect individual elephant welfare is an important and highly debated topic. Saliva and fecal samples were collected monthly for 1 year from 44 female Asian elephants that participated in three programs (saddle-, bareback-, or no-riding), and analyzed for glucocorticoids (GC) and immunoglobulin A (IgA).
June 13, 2024

Commonalities in Management and Husbandry Factors Important for Health and Welfare of Captive Elephants in North America and Thailand

There is considerable concern about the welfare of elephants used for education, research, and entertainment purposes in western zoos and Asian tourist camps, and whether captive venues meet the needs of these highly social and intelligent animals. Therefore, it is important to conduct studies to determine how factors in the captive environment affect animal welfare both positively and negatively.
June 13, 2024

Management factors affecting adrenal glucocorticoid activity of tourist camp elephants in Thailand and implications for elephant welfare

Elephant camps are among the most popular destinations in Thailand for tourists from many countries. A wide range of management strategies are used by these camps, which can have varied impacts on health and welfare of elephants.

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