Vol. 7, Issue 4 (2018)

Author(s):
Biswal Chichilichi, Chitta Ranjan Pradhan, Niranjan Sahoo, Mitra Ranjan Panda, Sumanta Kumar Mishra, Kumaresh Behera and Abinash Das

Abstract:
An investigation was conducted to study the stress level through non-invasive fecal cortisol analysis in free-range and captive Asian elephants in Odisha covering three seasons namely, summer (April-June), rainy (July-September) and winter (November-January). The locations in Odisha include Chandaka Wildlife Sanctuary, Bhubaneswar; Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary, Angul and Similipal Biosphere Reserve, Mayurbhanj for free-range and Nandankanan Zoological Park, Bhubaneswar for the captive ones. The fecal cortisol concentrations (ng/ml) were estimated using ELISA from freshly collected fecal samples. The mean cortisol concentrations (ng/ml) showed no significant (P ≥ 0.05) difference between locations, whether free-range or captive, in summer or rainy while, significant (P ≤ 0.05) differences between locations were recorded only in winter. A comparative analysis made among seasons for each of the locations revealed the highest value in summer followed by winter and rainy, the differences being significant (P ≤ 0.05), except that the rainy and winter values for Chandaka WLS did not show statistical significance (P ≥ 0.05). The findings in the present study indicated the fact that it was the weather condition along with locality, and no other possible stressor, that affected the cortisol levels in the elephants, be they captive or free-ranging.