Reproductive Performance of the Captive Asian Elephants in Large Camps

In Thailand, many elephants are used in tourism, with populations sustained by captive breeding. Many camps have breeding programs, but not all are successful. This study summarizes reproductive performance of elephants at seven tourist camps based on 4 to 21 years of breeding records. Age pyramid s...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Patiparn Toin
Other Authors: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Chatchote Thitaram
Format: Theses and Dissertations
Language:English
Published: เชียงใหม่ : บัณฑิตวิทยาลัย มหาวิทยาลัยเชียงใหม่ 2020
Online Access:http://cmuir.cmu.ac.th/jspui/handle/6653943832/69531
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Institution: Chiang Mai University
Language: English
id th-cmuir.6653943832-69531
record_format dspace
spelling th-cmuir.6653943832-695312020-08-12T02:01:35Z Reproductive Performance of the Captive Asian Elephants in Large Camps ประสิทธิภาพของระบบสืบพันธุ์ของช้างเลี้ยงเอเชียในปางขนาดใหญ่ Patiparn Toin Assoc. Prof. Dr. Chatchote Thitaram Asst. Prof. Dr. Chaleamchat Somgird Dr. Janine L. Brown In Thailand, many elephants are used in tourism, with populations sustained by captive breeding. Many camps have breeding programs, but not all are successful. This study summarizes reproductive performance of elephants at seven tourist camps based on 4 to 21 years of breeding records. Age pyramid structures varied across camps, skewing older or younger, indicating differences in breeding success. Reproductive rates averaged 24.5 ± 8.9% and varied significantly across camps (2.8 – 69.2%). Based on parity, 76.5% of elephants were nulliparous, 8.2% produced one calf, and 15.2% were multiparous, with significant camp differences. Camps reported 1.10 ± 0.46 (range, 0.03-3.55) births per year, with a total of 19.6 ± 9.3 (range, 1-71) calves per camp. The age at first calving was 19.2 ± 1.1 (range, 8 – 40) years, mean inter-birth interval was 4.4 ± 0.2 (range, 1.8 – 7.9) years, and average gestation length was 653.9 ± 6.9 (range, 578 – 743) years. Birth sex ratio of all camps combined skewed slightly towards males - 1:0.75 (79 males: 60 females). Rates of abortions/stillbirths averaged 13.6%, and ranged from 3.5 – 75%. There were no obvious differences in management (e.g., number of bulls, estrous detection methods, work activities) that explained the range in breeding success, although lack of bull interest was a concern. This information can guide future studies to determine how specific practices affect reproductive performance, and emphasized the importance of breeding records to aid population management of captive elephants in Thailand. 2020-08-12T02:01:35Z 2020-08-12T02:01:35Z 2020-04 Thesis http://cmuir.cmu.ac.th/jspui/handle/6653943832/69531 en เชียงใหม่ : บัณฑิตวิทยาลัย มหาวิทยาลัยเชียงใหม่
institution Chiang Mai University
building Chiang Mai University Library
continent Asia
country Thailand
Thailand
content_provider Chiang Mai University Library
collection CMU Intellectual Repository
language English
description In Thailand, many elephants are used in tourism, with populations sustained by captive breeding. Many camps have breeding programs, but not all are successful. This study summarizes reproductive performance of elephants at seven tourist camps based on 4 to 21 years of breeding records. Age pyramid structures varied across camps, skewing older or younger, indicating differences in breeding success. Reproductive rates averaged 24.5 ± 8.9% and varied significantly across camps (2.8 – 69.2%). Based on parity, 76.5% of elephants were nulliparous, 8.2% produced one calf, and 15.2% were multiparous, with significant camp differences. Camps reported 1.10 ± 0.46 (range, 0.03-3.55) births per year, with a total of 19.6 ± 9.3 (range, 1-71) calves per camp. The age at first calving was 19.2 ± 1.1 (range, 8 – 40) years, mean inter-birth interval was 4.4 ± 0.2 (range, 1.8 – 7.9) years, and average gestation length was 653.9 ± 6.9 (range, 578 – 743) years. Birth sex ratio of all camps combined skewed slightly towards males - 1:0.75 (79 males: 60 females). Rates of abortions/stillbirths averaged 13.6%, and ranged from 3.5 – 75%. There were no obvious differences in management (e.g., number of bulls, estrous detection methods, work activities) that explained the range in breeding success, although lack of bull interest was a concern. This information can guide future studies to determine how specific practices affect reproductive performance, and emphasized the importance of breeding records to aid population management of captive elephants in Thailand.
author2 Assoc. Prof. Dr. Chatchote Thitaram
author_facet Assoc. Prof. Dr. Chatchote Thitaram
Patiparn Toin
format Theses and Dissertations
author Patiparn Toin
spellingShingle Patiparn Toin
Reproductive Performance of the Captive Asian Elephants in Large Camps
author_sort Patiparn Toin
title Reproductive Performance of the Captive Asian Elephants in Large Camps
title_short Reproductive Performance of the Captive Asian Elephants in Large Camps
title_full Reproductive Performance of the Captive Asian Elephants in Large Camps
title_fullStr Reproductive Performance of the Captive Asian Elephants in Large Camps
title_full_unstemmed Reproductive Performance of the Captive Asian Elephants in Large Camps
title_sort reproductive performance of the captive asian elephants in large camps
publisher เชียงใหม่ : บัณฑิตวิทยาลัย มหาวิทยาลัยเชียงใหม่
publishDate 2020
url http://cmuir.cmu.ac.th/jspui/handle/6653943832/69531
_version_ 1681752723132776448