title: Recumbence Behavior in Zoo Elephants: Determination of Patterns and Frequency of Recumbent Rest and Associated Environmental and Social Factors.
abstract: Resting behaviors are an essential component of animal welfare but have received little attention in zoological research. African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) and Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) rest includes recumbent postures, but no large-scale investigation of African and Asian zoo elephant recumbence has been previously conducted. We used anklets equipped with accelerometers to measure recumbence in 72 adult female African (n = 44) and Asian (n = 28) elephants housed in 40 North American zoos. We collected 344 days of data and determined associations between recumbence and social, housing, management, and demographic factors. African elephants were recumbent less (2.1 hours/day, S.D. = 1.1) than Asian elephants (3.2 hours/day, S.D. = 1.5; P < 0.001). Nearly one-third of elephants were non-recumbent on at least one night, suggesting this is a common behavior. Multi-variable regression models for each species showed that substrate, space, and social variables had the strongest associations with recumbence. In the African model, elephants who spent any amount of time housed on all-hard substrate were recumbent 0.6 hours less per day than those who were never on all-hard substrate, and elephants who experienced an additional acre of outdoor space at night increased their recumbence by 0.48 hours per day. In the Asian model, elephants who spent any amount of time housed on all-soft substrate were recumbent 1.1 hours more per day more than those who were never on all-soft substrate, and elephants who spent any amount of time housed alone were recumbent 0.77 hours more per day than elephants who were never housed alone. Our results draw attention to the significant interspecific difference in the amount of recumbent rest and in the factors affecting recumbence; however, in both species, the influence of flooring substrate is notably important to recumbent rest, and by extension, zoo elephant welfare.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, United States of America.|Conservation Research Division, Oregon Zoo, Portland, Oregon, United States of America.
authors.forename: Matthew R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Holdgate
authors.affiliation: AWARE Institute, Portland, Oregon, United States of America.
authors.forename: Cheryl L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Meehan
authors.affiliation: AWARE Institute, Portland, Oregon, United States of America.
authors.forename: Jennifer N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Hogan
authors.affiliation: Chicago Zoological Society-Brookfield Zoo, Brookfield, Illinois, United States of America.
authors.forename: Lance J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: Dairy Education and Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Agassiz, Canada.
authors.forename: Jeff
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rushen
authors.affiliation: Dairy Education and Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Agassiz, Canada.
authors.forename: Anne Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: de Passillé
authors.affiliation: Department of Education & Science, Disney's Animal Kingdom, Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States of America.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Soltis
authors.affiliation: Zoological Operations, Busch Gardens, Tampa, Florida, United States of America.
authors.forename: Jeff
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Andrews
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, United States of America.|Conservation Research Division, Oregon Zoo, Portland, Oregon, United States of America.
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Shepherdson
mesh_terms: D000822:Animal Husbandry; D000827:Animal Welfare; D000818:Animals; D000836:Animals, Zoo; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D004606:Elephants / Q000502:physiology*; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D006799:Housing, Animal; D012146:Rest / Q000502:physiology*; D012919:Social Behavior