Lifespan of elephants

Leptonyx

Leptonyx

Well-Known Member
This was on my old university's website...

"Zoo Life Erodes Elephant Health, Study Finds
December 11, 2008 - Campus Bulletin

Female elephants living in protected populations in Africa and Asia live longer than those in captivity in European zoos, according to new research by an international team of scientists that includes a University of Guelph professor.

The study led by Guelph Prof. Georgia Mason will be published in the Dec. 12 issue of Science, the world's leading journal of scientific research. Mason conducted the research with Ros Clubb, her former graduate student, and four other researchers from the United Kingdom and Kenya.

The findings could mark the end of a long-standing debate about the physical and mental well being of zoo elephants, and may also bring about improvements in how these animals are kept.

"This is the first animal welfare paper to get into Science," said Mason, who holds the Canada Research Chair in animal welfare in Guelph's Department of Animal and Poultry Science. She is also an associated faculty member in U of G's Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare.

"These kinds of questions often generate more heat than light, and our research shows what can be found out by analysing objective data. We hope it provides a model for tackling similar issues with other species," she said.

Using data on more than 4,500 elephants, the researchers found empirical evidence that zoos cause shortened adult life spans in both African and Asian elephants. In the most endangered species of elephant, the Asian, calf death rates were also elevated.

For this species, the researchers found that being born into a zoo(rather than being imported from the wild), being moved between zoos, and the possible loss of their mothers, all put animals at particular risk.

The authors looked at data on female Asian and African elephants from Amboseli National Park in Kenya as well as the Myanma Timber Enterprise and compared them to data on elephants in European zoos to reach these conclusions. Combined with the widespread health and reproductive problems documented in zoo elephants, these findings suggest that they suffer from both mental and physical ailments.

The authors recommend screening all zoo elephants for signs of stress and obesity, in order to identify individuals that might be in trouble. Until these animals’ problems can be solved, the researchers also call for an end to the importation of elephants from their native countries, the minimizing of inter-zoo transfers, and suggest that breeding elephants should be restricted to those zoos that exhibit no harmful effects in their captive-born animals.

Mason joined U of G in 2004. She had spent the past two decades studying, teaching and advising on animal welfare issues in England — including 10 years as a lecturer and scientist at Oxford.

She also done extensive research on the welfare of elephants and carnivores in zoos and mink on fur farms, focussing on how different species vary in their response to captive husbandry. Her work has also appeared in publications such as Nature and New Scientist.

Guelph's Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare was the first of its kind in North America and second in the world. It includes undergraduate and graduate teaching programs and research projects, as well as public lectures, seminars, and educational opportunities for people with a variety of interests in animal welfare.
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I was extremely surprised by the result...with all the veterinary care, food, and knowledge we've gained about elephants over the last couple of decades, I've always just assumed that elephants in zoos had surpassed their normal life expectancy in the wild (as with most animals).
 
Wild Elephants Live Longer Than Their Zoo Counterparts

Another article about this published by NatGeo:

Wild Elephants Live Longer Than Their Zoo Counterparts

Wild elephants in protected areas of Africa and Asia live more than twice as long as those in European zoos, a new study has found.

Animal welfare advocates have long clashed with zoo officials over concerns about the physical and mental health of elephants in captivity.

British and Canadian scientists who conducted the six-year study say their finding puts an end to that debate once and for all.

"We're worried that the whole system basically doesn't work and improving it is essential," said lead author Georgia Mason, a zoologist at the University of Guelph in Canada.

Obesity and stress are likely factors for the giant land mammals' early demise in captivity, she said.

Until these problems are resolved, the authors are calling for a halt to importing wild elephants and breeding them in facilities unless an institution can guarantee long, healthy lives for its elephants. The study will be published tomorrow in the journal Science.

(Related: "Zoo Life Shortens Elephant Lives in Europe, Study Says" [October 25, 2002].)

Wild and Long-Lived

Mason and colleagues looked at data from more than 4,500 wild and captive African and Asian elephants.

The data include elephants in European zoos, which house about half of the world's captive elephants; protected populations in Amboseli National Park in Kenya; and the Myanma Timber Enterprise in Myanmar (Burma), a government-run logging operation where Asian elephants are put to work.

Only the survival rates of females were analyzed because of their importance to future populations.

The findings show that captive elephants live considerably shorter lives.

... (more)
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Authors compared average of all zoos with two best places for wild elephants. 99.5% of wild elephants don't enjoy safety from poachers and optimum grazing habitat equal to Amboseli.

If authors were faithful, they should note that elephants are imported mostly from S African culls and impoverished Asian camps. They couldn't expect lifespan equal to Amboseli. They come to the best, most modern zoo exhibits. They can expect longer lifespan than zoo average. So they gain chance for longer life, not lose it.

Overall, earlier studies of these authors were full of errors. When I read this one, I hope to see some more errors.

I also don't like their attitude of throwing good and bad zoos into one basket, and not improving conditions in zoos but letting animals die out.

BTW - anybody knows average lifespan of working elephant in Asia? I expect it to be short. I don't recall seeing many elderly elephants there.
 
Leptonyx said:
I was extremely surprised by the result...with all the veterinary care, food, and knowledge we've gained about elephants over the last couple of decades
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The error is probably "sample of 4500 zoo elephants". Authors counted zoo elephants living many years ago. Is lifespan of zoo elephant during WW2, or in 1960s, representative for the modern zoo?

Better exercise would be to plot lifespan and breeding of zoo elephants over the years, and for a subset of zoos considered "good". The improvement would be very clear!
 
I bet they also counted stillbirths and neonatal deaths in zoos...it would be very difficult to also account for the same in wild elephant populations.

Although in one article I read, and AZA spokesman was quoted as saying that he cant recall the last time an American zoo imported wild caught elephants. It seems he has a short memory because San Diego and Lowry Park imported 11 elephants from Swaziland in 2003.
 
I fin dit funny that the animals that live the longest always seem to live in the crap exhibit, for example... Ambika the elephant is 60 in the 1930 Elephant House at National Zoo,Debby the polar bear lived 42 years at Assiniboine Park Zoo in a sub-standard grotto and produced 6 cubs as well,The polar bears at Stanley Park Zoo lived well into there 30's and 40's in a concrete **** mess.
 
Jurek7 said:
The error is probably "sample of 4500 zoo elephants".
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in the two quotes starting the thread, it says the figure of 4500 includes both wild and captive elephants, not 4500 zoo elephants
 
Jurek7 said:
BTW - anybody knows average lifespan of working elephant in Asia? I expect it to be short. I don't recall seeing many elderly elephants there.
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Based of Kerala elephants working poorams most live to around 55-60, cause if you look at the death reports of elephants in India most say the elephant aged around 55-60.

Naturally I would think that elephants have around the same lifespan as us!
Though in zoos they seem to pass on around the late 40'2 to early 50's.

Just averaging out of what I have found.
 
It should be noted that the authors do not conclude that elephants should not be kept in zoos. Rather, they say zoo husbandry and exhibits need improvement. Also that there is no good research on how best to care for elephants in zoos, what will really make the difference. They point out that many new and larger exhibits are being built, but there is no experimental evidence that these are the answer.

The zoo animals looked at were between 1960 and 2005.
From an NPR article:
"Mason says she and her colleagues looked for indications that things were getting better for elephants over time. She says she found improvements for African elephants, but not Asian elephants.

Zoos need to do a better job of figuring out what elephants in captivity need to live a long and healthy life, she says.

"It's clear that some animals are living decent, long lives," says Mason. "And other animals are dying really early. And I think it's now really important to work out why some zoos are successful and others aren't."

(Listen to a podcast of an interview with the lead author or read the transcript:
Science Podcast -- 322 (5908): 1721b -- Science )

Pretty much what many here on this Forum have said, I think.

Of course, the anti-zoo folks will only use the headline.
 
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dragon(ele)nerd said:
I personally would say around 60-70 on average. ( in the wild) Cause that is usually the age their last set of molars wear down. oh and hey there by the way,
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I think they'd be very lucky to reach 60 in the wild, let alone 70.
I think they're more likely to live 45-50 in the wild, as Sheba at Chester has lost most of her teeth and she's 50 odd (at least I think that's correct).
 
okapikpr said:
Although in one article I read, and AZA spokesman was quoted as saying that he cant recall the last time an American zoo imported wild caught elephants. It seems he has a short memory because San Diego and Lowry Park imported 11 elephants from Swaziland in 2003.
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He probably meant captured for no reason. These elephants were going to be culled and are both doing great. Its not like they were captured from the Wilds of Africa and placed into tiny old style zoo cages.
 
Zoogoer2000 said:
I fin dit funny that the animals that live the longest always seem to live in the crap exhibit, for example... Ambika the elephant is 60 in the 1930 Elephant House at National Zoo.
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I kind of disagree. Sunita, the Asian Elephant at the San Diego Wild Animal Park is 59 and Gunda the Asian elephant at Tulsa Zoo is 58. Both are in very nice enclosures.
 
annie said:
so how long do they live
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Wiley InterScience :: Session Cookies

"The longest living Asian elephant in North America has an estimated age of 77 years and is still alive. The longest living African elephant in North America has an estimated age of 53 years and is also still alive. Thus, for both species in North America there is not yet a longevity record."

This was taken from a study in 2004 looking into survival of elephants in zoos in Europe and North America, so this might have changed since then (re: BlackRhino: Sunita, the Asian Elephant at the San Diego Wild Animal Park is 59 and Gunda the Asian elephant at Tulsa Zoo is 58). I haven't looked into the methods of the other calculations they came up with (they determine mean age of asian, african elephants in captivity), but it might be worth looking into :). There was apparently an asian elephant in Taiwan that lived to be 86 years old!!!
 
'Are we about to see elephants disappearing from Britain's zoos? New research shows that elephants in zoos have a very short life. Dr Rob Atkinson, of the RSPCA, and Miranda Stevenson, from the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums, discuss whether animals should be kept in captivity. '

Radio show extract:

BBC - Today
 
From our P.R. dept. at the ZSSD:
"- the paper uses very old data from European zoos (not North American zoos)
- the paper states that most Asian elephants do not reach 19 years of age and that the median age for Asian elephants in the wild is about 41 years. Yet all of the Asian elephants at the Zoo and Wild Animal Park are in their late 40's and 50's.
- the paper does not account for the effect of poaching on the longevity of most wild elephants ( a significant factor in most wild areas, in fact a report issued today indicates that all African elephants in Chad may soon be gone due to poaching).
- the figures in this study do not agree with the previous paper on elephant longevity co-authored by Dr. [Robert] Wiese
- the authors of this recent paper appear to be selectively presenting only those results which agree with their premise
- elephants born in zoos under modern management can not be in their 30s, 40s or 50s, because they were only born in the last 10-15 years."
 
I do know that the oldest elephant to live in a zoo ( cause I know several 80's in Sanctuaries and camps) was an old elephant named Lin wang aged 82 before he died in the Taiwan zoo.
 
He probably meant captured for no reason.
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I highly doubt it. No elephants are just capture for no reason. American zoos have been importing elephants due to culling or being orphaned. Very few have been imported since the 1980s. But the majority of imports occured in the 80s due to the massive amount of culling in Africa.

And for everyone out there, on an unrelated note:
Also here is a list of the oldest elephants in North America. Please take note that they are all Asian Elephants and this list has remained unchanged since August when I first posted this list. There are currently no African Elephants older than fifty years of age.

NAME DOB LOCATION
Taj 1940 Vallejo, CA (Six Flags Discovery Kingdom)
Mary 1946 Central Florida Zoo, Sanford, FL
Barbara 1947 Carson & Barnes Circus
Ambika 1948 National Zoo
Minnie 1948 Carson & Barnes Circus
Shirley 1948 Hohenwald, TN (Elephant Sanctuary)
Sunita 1949 San Diego Wild Animal Park, Escondido, CA
Minyahk 1949 Dickerson Park Zoo, Springfield, MO
Ellen 1950 Little Rock Zoo, AR
Gunda 1950 Tulsa Zoo, OK
Lutzi 1950 Ringling Bros Circus
Mysore 1950 Ringling Bros Circus

http://www.zoochat.com/22/oldest-elephants-north-america-23527/
 
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