Free-ranging African elephants are highly social animals that live in a society where age, size, kinship, and disposition all contribute to social rank. Although captive elephant herds are small and largely comprises of unrelated females, dominance hierarchies are common. The goal of this study was to delineate how the behavior of captive female African elephants varies with respect to age and social rank based on a combination of keeper questionnaires and behavioral observations. "Body movements" and "trunk to" behaviors of 33 nonpregnant female African elephants housed at 14 North American zoos were recorded over 8 hr. Keepers at each facility also rated each elephant based on a series of questions about interactions with herdmates. The assessment of social rank based on observations correlated strongly with ranks assigned by keepers via the questionnaires. Observations and questionnaire responses indicated that body weight of the female, and to a lesser extent age, were significantly related to rates and types of "body movements" and that these demographic factors dictate the captive elephant hierarchy, similar to that observed in the wild. Many of the observed "body movements," such as back away, displace, push, and present, were correlated with keeper questionnaire responses about elephant interactions. However, none of the "trunk to" behaviors were related to age, size, or questionnaire responses even though they occurred frequently. In conclusion, we demonstrated that short-term behavioral observations and keeper questionnaires provided similar behavioral profiles for female African elephants housed in North American zoos.
Direct radioimmunoassays (RIA) for urinary oestrone conjugates and pregnanediol-3 alpha-glucuronide (PdG) were used to study ovarian activity patterns and pregnancy in Eld's deer. In 2 does, urinary metabolite patterns were compared to temporal patterns of plasma LH, oestradiol-17 beta and progesterone. Preovulatory LH peaks occurred coincident with behavioural oestrus, and plasma progesterone secretion paralleled PdG excretion. Although plasma oestradiol-17 beta levels fluctuated between 5 and 10 pg/ml throughout the oestrous cycle, no preovulatory oestrogen surge was observed. Based on PdG excretion, non-conception oestrous cycles averaged 21.5 +/- 2.1 days (+/- s.e.m., n = 65); however, 2 of 13 does exhibited prolonged oestrous cycles (30.1 +/- 4.4 days; range 14-62 days, n = 14) characterized by sustained PdG excretion. Excluding these 2 females, the mean oestrous cycle was 18.5 +/- 0.3 days (range 14-23 days, n = 51). Behavioural oestrus (12-24 h duration) was observed in 42 of 65 cycles (64.6%), and always corresponded with intercyclic troughs in PdG excretion (2-5 days duration). Mean gestation duration (n = 10) was 33.5 +/- 0.4 weeks. PdG concentrations increased (P less than 0.05) by Week -32 (3rd week of gestation), plateaued between Weeks -31 and -25, increased (P less than 0.05) markedly by Week -22 and then rose steadily until parturition, declining (P less than 0.05) rapidly thereafter. Mean excretion of oestrone conjugates remained low until Week -30, increased (P less than 0.05) steadily to Week -24 (P less than 0.05) and then returned to baseline by Week -17. Increased (P less than 0.05) oestrone conjugates concentrations were detected again by Week -4 followed by a rapid increase to peak pregnancy levels by Week -1, declining (P less than 0.05) precipitously after parturition. The results confirm that the Eld's deer is seasonally polyoestrous with onset (January-March) and cessation (August-October) of regular, cyclic ovarian activity coinciding with increasing and decreasing daylengths, respectively. Urinary PdG excretion accurately reflects cyclic ovarian activity and markedly elevated concentrations of this metabolite provide an accurate index of pregnancy. The simultaneous monitoring of oestrone conjugates appears useful for estimating the stage of pregnancy and predicting parturition onset.
SUMMARY Effects of atropine on cystometry and urethral pressure profilometry were examined in 12 healthy young adult dogs by comparing recordings obtained after xylazine alone with those obtained after administration of xylazine and atropine. Significant differences ( P > 0.05) were not found, indicating that atropine, when administered sc with xylazine, did not markedly affect cystometrographic results and urethral pressure profiles.
Elephants experience a number of health issues that can contribute to their well-being and survival. In managed populations, housing conditions and management practices can influence individual health, so potential risk factors associated with morbidity or mortality should be identified to ensure the best possible standards of care. The goal of this study was to determine if the number of clinical events experienced could be a useful welfare indicator in zoo elephants, and to determine factors associated with key pathologies. We used an epidemiological approach to investigate how intrinsic (species, sex, age) and extrinsic (housing, management) factors were associated with both the total number of clinical events, and each of the four most prevalent pathology types (gastrointestinal issues, skin lesions, lameness, foot lesions), over a 12-month period. The study included 220 (127 African; 93 Asian) elephants housed at 61 facilities across North America. More than 1100 clinical events were identified. Species and sex differences were apparent in the types of pathology encountered, and unsurprisingly, the number of clinical events was positively correlated with age. Factors relating to housing (percent time with indoor/outdoor choice, space experience inside, number of unique environments an elephant was housed in, percent time on soft substrate) and management (enrichment diversity, spread of feeding opportunities) were also related to the number of clinical events. However, relationships were often counter to our initial hypotheses, highlighting caution in assuming cause and effect from correlational analyses such as these. Other welfare indicators such as serum and fecal glucocorticoids and serum prolactin were also associated with health status, being higher or more variable in individuals with a greater number of events. This approach provides insight into housing and management factors related to the health of these species in zoos, and in some cases, may reflect management changes that have already been made to mitigate existing or anticipated health concerns.
Information concerning histologic significance of naturally occurring bursal Cryptosporidium sp. infection in chickens was obtained by retrospective examination of histopathology reports and clinical data from histology accessions received during 1986. Cryptosporidiosis was diagnosed in 197 bursas. In two-thirds of the accessions, more than 50% of the examined bursas were infected with Cryptosporidium sp. The histologic morphologic lesion diagnosis for Cryptosporidium sp.-infected bursas most often was marked diffuse chronic-active superficial purulent protozoal bursitis with mucosal epithelial hyperplasia. Our study clearly indicates that Cryptosporidium sp. is associated with inflammation and disturbed growth in chicken bursas. Additionally, our data indicate that Cryptosporidium sp. infection is not dependent on bursal damage attributable to other agents, including infectious bursal disease virus.
Experimental infection with infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) reduced the complement (C) titer in 8-week-old chickens on days 3, 5, and 7 postinfection. Since the C titer was much lower in normal 2-week-old chickens than in normal 8-week-old chickens it could not be determined whether there was a reduction in titer during the infection process. Virus-neutralizing antibody rose rapidly following infection in both 2- and 8-week-old chickens. Hyper-immune serum given during infection in an attempt to produce immune complexes did not increase disease severity in either 2- or 6-week-old susceptible chickens.
