Elephants In Captivity

The official title of the world’s largest land dwelling animal belongs to the elephant, more specifically, the African elephant. Elephants also are some of the most deadly animals, which therefore increase the danger of human and elephant interactions. The more human interactions occur, the more deaths result, whether it is the elephant or the human who dies. These animals, surprisingly, are socially apt; their trunk is used for more than just eating and drinking- it is used for socializing. They are complex animals who live in large familial herds-females stay with their family throughout their entire lives while males only stay for approximately fifteen years (Elephant Protection, 1). Elephants possess a great memory and only forget what they learn occasionally and rarely, giving way to the “an elephant never forgets” saying (Maloiy, 178c). Despite how many people use the beloved saying, elephants may not be around much longer due to the shortened life span and increased mortality rates. Due to their incisor teeth, tusks, being extremely expensive and profitable, they are being murdered for the wealth they carry. This, coupled with the life span shortening because of malicious treatments and brutal practices reduces the life span of the African elephant from 56 to 16 years and the Asian elephant from 42 to 19 years (Elephant Protection, 1). According to what the statistics show, elephants may be following their ancestors to their death. Of the group of mammals called

The idea of animal rights has been around for centuries. Even decades ago, people were taking action for the welfare of animals. Marc Bekoff and Ned Hettinger share this idea all the way back in 1994 when they said that there is evidence that scientist are concerned with animal welfare by acknowledge that they use the guidelines in place to protect animals during research, in order to have their work published (Bekoff 219). Guidelines are the basis for the moral and ethical treatment of animals. Each person may have his or her own standard, but having a standard among the entire population ensures the welfare of the animals. Unfortunately, these standards are not at a level to where the animals are being protected. Many animals in captivity are treated in ways that would shock the average person. Orcas for example, are starved until they do the desired task (Cowperthwaite). This form of operant condition can lead to success, but often leads to resentment and hostility towards the trainers.

For about twenty eight years now the Asian elephant has been struggling for existence. They have been classified as endangered species by The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Twenty eight years is quite a large amount of time for an animal to be classified as endangered so The Zoological Society of London decided to look into this issue. Asian elephants have been transferred to captivity for quite some time in the North American region. The Elephas maximus have been captured from these countries in southern Asia and brought over to North America and have experienced many complications that can hinder the genetic diversity of the evolution of the species. Captive populations of the Elephas maximus species may be essential for genetic preservation and aid in decreasing the deterioration of the authentic population (Brenneman et al. 2011).

Trump’s lift on the ban of endangered elephant trophy imports into the U.S. is just another prime example of how politics and money take precedence over precious life and the environment. Fortunately, the new policy that Trump is considering is on-hold. According to Tanya Sernerib, Center for Biological Diversity Attorney, “we are in the midst of a poaching crisis. Elephant populations across Africa are declining”, she said in an interview with WCCO CBS Minnesota in November 2017. It was reported in that same broadcast that the elephant population on the African continent declined by 30% between 2007 and 2014 based on a report released by the Great Elephant Census Organization in 2016. If the ban is not lifted, those interested in sports

Finally, animal activists are concerned about the lifespan of captive animals. Studies have shown that African elephants in the wild live to an average age of fifty six years old, whereas their captive counterparts live to an average of seventeen years old (Wild). That’s a difference of thirty nine years. Asian elephants bred in captivity didn’t live as long as wild elephants brought into captivity. Animals living in sanctuary have similar average lifespans to those living in the wild. Zoos and aquaria advertise about their great veterinary care provided for every animal, but if they aren’t living as long as their wild counterparts, is all the preventative testing helping them? Living in captivity actually lessens, not lengthens, an animal’s

I think elephants do belong in zoos. Here are my reasons why they do belong in zoos. One is lifespan/disease, Second is People can see elephants, Third is Work out.

The Ivory Trade is a group that kills for food and money. They kill animals for their insides and they leave the skin. The ivory trade mostly kills the elements because of how big they are. They did illegal things to get money or food. They killed 12,000 elephants each year. The group says that “ Sudan has become the base of africa’s ivory trade.

Because of the poaching of African elephants there has been a decrease in the average weight of their tusks, poachers look for elephants with larger tusks. This has been recorded by the Uganda Game Department between 1925 to 1928 (Dawkins, 2009). Natural selections is a mechanism of evolution beginning with variations of traits within a population, these variations must be heritable in order to be passed to offspring, there must also be differential reproductive success, this causes the organisms with the favorable gene to survive and pass the trait on to future generations (Berkeley.edu, 2015). Poaching results in natural selection because there is a variation in the gene that codes for tusk sizes. The larger tusks are being targeted and killed, smaller tusked elephants remain giving them a better chance to reproduce and pass their genes, causing the genes that result in smaller tusks to appear more frequently. Directional selection, which is a mode of natural selection, is happening in this population because one phenotype is more favorable. These elephants are displaying a change in genetic frequency, a result of a mutation causing variation in tusk size. This is a heritable trait, the genes that code for smaller tusk sizes are being passed down more than those for larger tusk sizes. Evolution is the change frequency of allele, because the elephants with the larger tusks are being killed the elephants with smaller tusks are left with the best fitness. This leads to a

Social cognition refers to the ability to process, store and apply information to social situations. Elephants have high levels of abilities in social cognition which means researchers assume they are capable of social learning. Social learning is a theory that says animals learn by observing each other. However, the evidence and research to support this claim are limited. This study focuses on the evaluation of juvenile African elephant’s social learning skills and how it helps them replicate a problem-solving technique done by a trained elephant or in other words, a conspecific model. The subjects for this study will be seven juvenile African elephants. The experiment for this study involves training a juvenile African elephant to solve a

With an estimated 600 elephants, Addo has one of the highest population numbers of African elephants in the world. Each Addo elephant is, surprisingly, individually named and identified by the wrinkles on the face, unique notches, tears or vein patterns in the ears. There are seven distinct family groups in the park with smaller subgroups. Due to isolation, and a small original population size, genetic diversity is low amongst the Addo elephants; the majority of elephants are related. Many of the original 11 did not have tusks, and most likely survived because there was no attraction of ivory.

Many baby elephants are being abandoned due to poached parents. Fostering these baby elephants can help them grow up healthy and strong.

Would you like to be in a cage where you're not with your family and where you don't have your sweet home? Would you? No! Who would? Well that's what's happening to many animals at the zoo and we don't do nothing because we want to see them, meet them, know them better and see their colors and skin. Imagine you are an animal and were taken from your family. You never get to see them again, and you are forced to entertain humans to their amusement. How would you feel to suffer from confiinement, boredom and stress? It is shown in the figures that elephants kept in zoos live 15 to 14 years yet elephants in the wild live up to 50 years of age look at the proof and then ask yourself should we keep animals locked up?Taking animals from their rightful

A recent census found that the population in fifteen countries had dropped by 30 percent. This 30 percent loss was equal to 144,000 elephants(Thomas Crosbie Media 1). This census was conducted from 2007-2014. The current decline in population of the Savanna elephants is 8 percent annually(Thomas Crosbie Media 1 ). Numerous amounts of these elephants were slaughtered for one reason and that was for their tusks. They were killed

Wild African elephants may break sleep records for mammals. New data show that they seem to get by just fine on about two hours of shut-eye a night. Much of that snoozing took place while they were standing up. The animals lie down to sleep only once every three to four nights.

Elephants are a kind hearted large mammal who could potentially be forgotten about over time. This topic relates to what we have discussed in class because this article demonstrates the catastrophic decline of Elephants in Africa due to poaching (D-Arian). The article also exemplified the harsh dealings in Africa regarding the Ivory trade throughout Africa and China (Asiah). The issue itself is very disturbing some individuals had no sympathy about the life of an elephant however, they are looked at as a resource (Tyaira). Overall this article and what it stands for opened my eyes to how violent and lucrative the ivory trade is in Africa and China (Cherisse). But we are very thankful that there are recent laws past that to protects the elephants