0000000001325628
AUTHOR
Khyne U Mar
Myanmar’s semi-captive working elephant population is not sustainable without capture from the wild
Wildlife populations in captivity are increasingly common, but captive populations often have a higher extinction risk and may require supplementation through wild-capture. Despite this, wild-capture may actually hinder long-term conservation goals by reducing remaining wild populations, and its direct and long-term indirect consequences for captive population viability are rarely addressed using longitudinal data. Here, we explore the implications of changes in wild-capture on population viability over 54 years using a multi-generational studbook of working Asian elephants from Myanmar. We show that population viability declined between 1960 and 2014 with declines in wild-capture. Wild-cau…
Managing elephants in the modern world: the impact of changes in traditional handling on semi-captive Asian elephant welfare
The current extinction crisis is leaving us increasingly reliant on captive populations to maintain vulnerable species. Approximately one third of the remaining global Asian elephant population (~15,000) are managed by humans and live in captivity to some extent (1). The vast majority reside in semi-captive conditions in range countries, and their relationship with humans stretches back millennia. Despite this long history, they have never been fully domesticated as they have always reproduced independently of humans (2). Instead, we rely on expert knowledge accumulated over generations of specialised elephant handlers, known as mahouts, to handle these essentially wild animals. This ancien…