Influence of season, tourist activities and camp management on body condition, testicular and adrenal steroids, lipid profiles, and metabolic status in captive Asian elephant bulls in Thailand

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 14; no. 3; p. e0210537
• Main Authors: Norkaew, Treepradab, Brown, Janine L., Bansiddhi, Pakkanut, Somgird, Chaleamchat, Thitaram, Chatchote, Punyapornwithaya, Veerasak, Punturee, Khanittha, Vongchan, Preeyanat, Somboon, Nopphamas, Khonmee, Jaruwan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 13.03.2019; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adrenocortical hormones; Animal Welfare; Animals; Animals, Zoo - physiology; Asian elephant; Biology and Life Sciences; Blood lipids; Cholesterol; College football; Elephants; Feces - chemistry; Glucocorticoids; Glucocorticoids - metabolism; Glucose; Glucose - metabolism; Health Status; Human Activities; Insulin; Insulin - metabolism; Lipids - analysis; Low density lipoproteins; Male; Medicine and Health Sciences; Metabolites; Metabolomics; Physical Sciences; Seasons; Steroids (Organic compounds); Testis - chemistry; Testosterone; Testosterone - analysis; Thailand; Triglycerides; Type 2 diabetes; Women; Thailand

We previously found relationships between body condition and physiological function affecting health and welfare of female tourist camp elephants in Thailand, and used that approach to conduct a similar study of bull elephants in the same camps (n = 13). A body condition score (BCS) was done every o...