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Elephants in captivity are in most cases Asian elephants captured in the wild, usually as juveniles. Selective breeding of elephants is impractical due to their long reproductive cycle, so there are no domestic breeds. African bush elephants and African forest elephants are less amenable to training. There are estimated to be 15,000 to 20,000 elephants in captivity, of a total population of 40,000 to 50,000.
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The majority of elephants in zoos and circuses are taken from their homes and families in the wild. They are sometimes confined in small enclosures, with hard surfaces, where they stand for hours. As a result of this, elephants suffer from joint problems and foot diseases such as cracked nails, ulcers, fissures, arthritis and fractured toes.
In January 2016, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey announced they will be retiring their eleven captive elephants that year.
History
Tame elephants have been recorded since the Indus Valley civilization around 2,000 BCE. With mahouts, they have been used as working animals in forestry, as war elephants (by commanders such as Hannibal), for cultural and ceremonial use (such as temple elephants), as a method of execution, for public displays such as circus elephants, in elephant polo and in zoological gardens.
The expression white elephant derives from a white elephant being considered sacred and therefore disqualified from useful work, yet posing a large ownership cost. The origin of the expression is from the story that the kings of Siam gave white elephants as a gift to courtiers they disliked, in order to ruin the recipient by the great expense incurred in maintaining the animal.
Behaviour and training
Elephants have the largest brains of all land animals, and ever since the time of Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, have been renowned for their cognitive skills, with behavioural patterns shared with humans. Pliny the Elder described the animal as being closest to a human in sensibilities. They also have a longer lifespan than most livestock. Elephants exhibit a wide variety of behaviors, including those associated with grief, learning, allomothering, mimicry, play, altruism, use of tools, compassion, cooperation, self-awareness, memory, and language. The adult male elephant occasionally goes through a musth period, making him dangerously aggressive.
Hand-rearing
Successful hand-rearing of orphaned calves depends critically on the milk formula used. Human infant formula is commonly used, but requires to be supplemented with bovine colostrum (commercially available in substitute form), and lactobacillus to protect the gastrointestinal tract. To provide additional fat, desiccated coconut and butterfat are added, with vitamin and mineral supplements, in particular vitamin E, vitamin B, and calcium. Rice water strained from cooked rice and glutinous rice broth are useful and are added to the formula to combat diarrhea. Rice cereal, milled whole barley or oatmeal, desiccated coconut, and other ground solid foods are added to the milk of older calves to ease the transition to solid foods.
Welfare concerns
Animal welfare researchers have raised concern about the physical and mental health of elephants in captivity at zoos in the UK and the US.
Disease transmission
According to a report published by the Center for Disease Control, in North America, approximately 2% of African, and 12% of Asian captive elephants are thought to be infected with tuberculosis.
In 2012, two elephants in Tete d’Or Zoo, Lyon (France), were diagnosed with tuberculosis. Due to the threat of transmitting tuberculosis to other animals or visitors to the zoo, their euthanasia was initially ordered by city authorities but a court later overturned this decision.
At an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee, a quarantined 54-year-old African elephant being treated for tuberculosis was considered to be the source of latent (inactive) tuberculosis infections in eight workers.