Tourists riding on an elephant in Chiang Mai Thailand, aphotostory/Getty Photos
Nearly half of the elephants at multiple Thai tourist sites have nervous tics. These could be a sign of anxiety, frustration, or boredom.
Although elephant tourism has seen improvements in welfare, many elephants in Thailand still exhibit repetitive behaviors called stereotypies. These are similar to nervous tics.
Pakkanut Bansidhi, a Chiang Mai University student in Thailand, and her colleagues observed 283 Indian elephants (Elephas maximus Indicus), in 20 tourist facilities in Thailand's Chiang Mai Province. These elephants walk alongside tourists and give rides.
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This team discovered that 57% of the elephants displayed repetitive behaviors, such as swaying, weaving, pacing around and bobbing their heads. They also made useless limb movements, rocked back and forth on both their feet at least once every 15 minutes. Bansiddhi suggests that this could be their way to cope with stress situations such as separation from family members, being restrained in chains or boredom.
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These activities were done on average six times per elephant during that time. Elephants between the ages of 4 and 10 years old had the highest prevalence. These behaviours were most common in elephants aged between 4 and 10. Bansiddhi claims that this is consistent with statistics her team compiled from direct interviews with 181 mahouts (elephant handlers) on the animals behavior.
Andrew McLean, from the Human Elephant Learning Programs foundation of Australia, said that I am surprised that the figures aren't higher. Almost everywhere they chain elephants there are locomotor stereotypies.
When the elephants are three or four years old, Mahouts usually separate them from their mothers. Bansiddhi says that the children may not experience much stress before this time. Their tics may reflect their anxiety in the new environment. She suggests that older elephants might have learned to deal with stress better in their new environment.
McLean wonders, however, if older elephants have reached learned helplessness. This is when animals stop trying to cope.
Journal reference: Applied Animal Behaviour Science, DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2021.105456
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