Obesity is a very large health risk for humans, livestock, and companion animals. There are many conditions that can threaten the health in elephants that correlate with obesity, such as arthritis, cardiovascular disease, ovarian cycle abnormalities, and foot problems. There was only twenty-two percent of elephants with body condition scores(BCS) of a 3, and less than five percent had the lowest BCS of the species tested in the study. Obesity is defined as an accumulation of excessive amounts of adipose tissue in the body (Morfeld, 2016). When using a scoring system, the scores are usually based on five or nine points. On a five-point scale, one is being the thinnest; while five is fattest(obese). Animals with lower scores usually mean they …show more content…
When using the nine-point scale, four and five are considered ideal/normal body weight, while one through three equals underweight/thin animals, and the scores between six and nine equal an obese/overweight animal. The body condition scoring system is commonly used on animals such as horses, dogs, sheep, and cattle. “Meehan (2016) believed that high body condition is prevalent among North American zoo elephants, and management strategies that help and mitigate obesity leads to improvements in the welfare of zoo elephants.” The main objectives were to determine the body condition scores of elephants and using multi-variable regression modeling to determine housing and social factors associated with the risks of elephants being overweight were the main objectives. Many species are obesity is because of the energy imbalance, caloric intakes exceed energetic …show more content…
Insulin and leptin were specifically found to be predictors of ovarian cyclicity in female African elephants, also high body condition scores and metabolic hormones also play a factor. Changes in exercise and feeding management practices have a significant effect on the health and welfare of the elephants. Eating multiple small meals throughout the day may suppresses hunger and lower the serum insulin concentrations found in obese elephants. Health and sex plays an important role in elephants when it comes to the body condition, and risk factors that are correlated with obesity. Females have a higher BCS than males, so they are more prone to have more conditions that are threatening to their health than males
Likewise, CAPS affirms that zoos cause animals such as elephants physical harm by stating “…75% of elephants were overweight and only 16% could walk normally, the remainder having various degrees of lameness. Less that 20% were totally free of foot problem…” This proves without a doubt that zoo animals are often mistreated and the situations they face in these new surroundings can heavily influence their physical and mental health and their
As a result of this, there is less foraging activity seen among captive gorillas. Additionally, captive gorillas are relatively inactive compared to wild gorillas. Because captive gorilla diets are high in calories, the combination of that with the low amounts of fiber in their diet, and reduced activity levels in captivity could contribute to obesity in zoo gorillas. This is further supported by the fact that the gorillas in zoos weighed more on average than their wild counterparts. Increasing the fiber content in the captive gorillas’ diets would allow for greater variety in diet, as well as help improve their health (Smith, Remis, & Dierenfeld, 2014).
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 WHO classifies an adult with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or above as being obese. The BMI tool is used globally, and is calculated by dividing a person’s body weight in kilograms by their height in inches. Bostram and Eliasson (2006) argue a serious weakness with BMI is that the measure cannot differentiate between fat and muscle mass, and that a change in girth or abdominal circumference is a better reflection on the onset of obesity among other associated problems such as type 2 diabetes. Obesity is one of the major public health issues affecting society and is fast becoming a major cause of death across the globe. Seidell & Halberstadt (2015) indicate that the prevalence of obesity is growing at an alarming rate, and over the last thirty years, overnutrition and obesity has transformed from a minor health issue which affected only the most affluent of societies, to being a major threat to public health throughout the world.
than men (740). This suggests that women seek a large group of good friends while men are content with a small amount of high quality friends. Simply put, women prefer to travel in herds. Much like what one can observe in wildlife, females are found in large packs while males are either solo or in a small group.
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
Why do we find so much food in dumpsters? According to the National Assets Defense Council, America discards about 40% of meals produced every year (Osterweil). Even as individuals are accountable for losing meals, restaurants and bakeries are similarly responsible for their food wastes. They generally tend to throw away most ingredients and ingredients that can no longer be used. One of the principal motives to why the USA produces a lot of waste from meals is because of the supermarkets. Most supermarkets find significance in their “appearance, convenience and profit” (Osterweil). They show massive amounts of food at once to enchant their clients as if it were a show. Consequently, if the supermarkets have leftovers, items that the customers have not purchased, they may discard it.
There is no doubt that obesity in pets can be detrimental to their health and shorten their lifespan. Even though dog owners in developed countries have a basic knowledge of what is best for their dogs, obesity in pets is still an epidemic (Corbee, 2012 p. 904). There are many factors that contribute to this epidemic, some can be directly linked to the owner’s bad habits. Human’s bad habits can transfer to their dog such as weight gain as both dog and human tend to share the same lifestyle. For example, factors may be arbitrarily associated with owners not being fully educated on what is the “norm” for their dog’s breed, feeding proportions, types of food, exercise regiments, being neutered, and socioeconomic status of the owner (Degelin and Rock 2012, p. 40).
Obesity has been around for several thousands of years but hasn’t always been a serious epidemic. A higher amount of fat or stored energy used to mean a greater chance at surviving a famine, but those times are long gone in the industrialized world. As time has progressed, we’ve see an exponential growth in obesity rates despite our best efforts to slow it down. In order to contain and eventually decrease obesity rates, we would first need to know what fuels this powerful monster of the western culture. Has our problem been generated from an increase in inactivity, sugar consumption, fat consumption, other factors or a combination of them? A collection of studies have been observed to discover what the real main factor to obesity in
Obesity in the United States is an epidemic of growing proportions. According to the Center for Disease Control more than one-third (34.9% or 78.6 million) of U.S. adults are obese. ("Adult Obesity Facts", 2014). Obesity is defined as a body mass index or BMI, over 30. A person’s height and weight are used to determine BMI but does not measure how much body fat a person has.
The elephant is the only mammal that can not jump. Elephants are fascinating animals because of their behavior, diet, habitat, and how they care for their young. The elephant's diet is very specific. They mostly eat roots, grass, leaves,twigs, bark,fruit and seed pods (African elephants; Janssen).
Obesity rates are soaring throughout North America (What Is Obesity?, 2013). With obesity reaching almost epidemic proportions in the United States, and the threat of a global epidemic, we must watch this alarming increase carefully ( Health Risks of Obesity, 2013). Obesity is defined as: "…an excess of adipose tissue…" (A Report of the Surgeon General, 2014). The two most common measures of obesity are Body Mass Index (BMI is a ratio of weight to height) and relative weight index, such as percent desirable weight (Body Mass Index , 2013). BMI is the most frequently used measure of obesity as it has a strong correlation with more direct measures of adiposity, such as underwater weighing (A Report of the Surgeon General, 2013). Some
Large endothermic animals use metabolism to produce their own body heat. For these animals, exercise under tropical conditions could potentially be harmful. Heavy endotherms, such as elephants and dinosaurs, have decreased skin surface area to body mass ratios compared with other endotherms. This suggests that they have difficulty getting rid excess heat produced during exercise. However, behavioural choices of nocturnal activity may help reduce heat storage. Large size elephants’ body core and change in tissue insulation results in regional heterothermy, which influences rate of heat storage. Michael Rowe and his colleagues tested how two elephants, similar in size and habitat preferences, cope with exercising in hot conditions.
From the above discussion, it can be seen that not only that the elder matriarchal leaders are vital to maintaining the equilibrium state inside the herd, they too play an enormous role in determining the way in which the group will react to the outside influences, and that function also contributes to the degree in which the group is dependent on these old ladies . One of the most direct way that this influence can be recognized is in the ability to survive from dangerous predators. In “ Leadership in elephants: the adaptive value of age” and “Matriarchs As Repositories of Social Knowledge in African Elephants”, conducted by Karen McComb and two different teams, an experiment is carried out, in which the different elephant families are
Obesity is a major disease which has become a global problem, there are more than 250 million people have body mass index more 30. Obesity is being major concern of the people as it leads to stroke and heart attack. This figure is being spread worldwide thus this has become of the major concerned for world health. The prevalence of the concerned disease is high in number around the world. This disease has become concern of both developing and developed countries which has raised the challenge for the health authorises.