Study of fecal glucocorticoid metabolites in captive Asian elephants in Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand

Vet World Vol.15 March-2022 Article-14

Research Article

Veterinary World, 15(3): 647-654

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2022.647-654

Weerapun Nokkaew^1,2, Apiradee Intarapuk³, Apichaya Sakulthai⁴, Worawidh Wajjwalku⁵, and Nikorn Thongtip^6,7,8

1. Graduate Program in Bio-Veterinary Science, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kasetsart University, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand.
2. Wildlife Clinic, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mahanakorn University of Technology, Nong Chok, Bangkok 10530, Thailand.
3. Public Health Clinic, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mahanakorn University of Technology, Nong Chok, Bangkok 10530, Thailand.
4. Department of Farm Technology Management, Faculty of Agro-Industry, Panyapiwat Institute of Management, Nonthaburi, Thailand.
5. Akkhraratchakumari Veterinary College, Walailak University, Thasala, Nakhonsithammarat 80160, Thailand.
6. Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kasetsart University, Kamphaeng Saen Campus, Nakhon Pathom 73140, Thailand.
7. Center for Agricultural Biotechnology, Kasetsart University, Kamphaeng Saen Campus, Nakhon Pathom 73140, Thailand.
8. Center of Excellence on Agricultural Biotechnology (AG-BIO/PERDO-CHE), Bangkok, 10900, Thailand.

Background and Aim: Over the past two decades, the number of elephant camps in Thailand has increased considerably, and captive elephants have become more popular within the tourism industry. Tourist activities involving elephant exhibitions and trekking potentially affect animal health and welfare. This study aimed to investigate the relationships between a novel stress biomarker, fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (fGCM), and various factors (sex, age, weather season, tourist season, and elephant usage patterns), monitoring the fGCM concentration during and after trekking activities ceased.

Materials and Methods: Fecal samples of 20 captive Asian elephants from two camps in Kanchanaburi Province were collected monthly for 1 year. The fGCM concentrations were measured using enzyme immunoassay and evaluated relative to individual demography, season, and tourist trekking activity. The mean differences of fGCMs concentrations were compared by analysis of variance and t-test statistics according to data types with p<0.5.

Results: Significant differences in mean fGCM concentrations were found between age categories (p=0.001), trekking and non-trekking animals (p=0.039), and during and after trekking (p=0.023). The mean fGCM concentration of elephants aged during 0-44 years (136.7 ng/g) was significantly higher than for animals over 44 years old (107.7 ng/g), and the elephant trekking group (144.9 ng/g) was significantly higher than the other group (124.7 ng/g). Within the trekking group, the mean fGCM concentrations gradually declined to 129.13 ng/g within 8 months of trekking cessation.

Conclusion: Elephant's ages and activities co-influenced the variance of fGCM concentrations. In addition, permanent tourist activity, especially trekking, can increase elephant stress. This study's findings can be applied to the health status monitoring of captive elephants and result in improved animal welfare. Keywords: captive elephant, fecal glucocorticoid, hormone, stress, trekking.

Keywords: captive elephant, fecal glucocorticoid, hormone, stress, trekking.

How to cite this article: Nokkaew W, Intarapuk A, Sakulthai A, Wajjwalku W, Thongtip N (2022) Study of fecal glucocorticoid metabolites in captive Asian elephants in Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand, Veterinary World, 15(3): 647-654.

Received: 11-11-2021 Accepted: 08-02-2022 Published online: 23-03-2022

Corresponding author: Nikorn Thongtip E-mail: fvetnit@ku.ac.th

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2022.647-654

Copyright: Nokkaew, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.