Daily routine of captive Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in three management systems of Tamil Nadu, India and its implications for elephant welfare

Abstract

Under natural conditions elephants move extensively, experience complex physical, and social environments and engage in diverse activities. While in captivity their movements are restricted, activities are limited and timed for monotonous work. This study compares the daily routines of elephants managed in three captive systems in Tamil Nadu—private, temple and forest department—to understand how far their daily activities are in accordance with their natural behaviour in the wild. Data collected using focal sampling method for 77 elephants together from three systems show that the captive elephant in the private places, especially those with individual owners are put to significantly more work (7½ hours/day), mostly begging at towns and cities, with stressful walking in hot climate compared to the other two systems. The temple elephants remain in indoor enclosures for significantly longer period (16 hours/day) with very little time (<1 hour) allotted for walking/exercise. In contrast, the captive elephants in the forest department system are assigned significantly lesser time for work (2½ hours/day) and are given more time for natural feeding (13 hours/day), which they also use for other activities like resting, socializing and reproduction similar to that of wild elephants. The study suggests minimizing work duration for private elephants, and increasing the duration of exercise and bathing by reducing the time spent on resting and blessing by temple elephants, to improve their welfare.