Social Interactions in Two Groups of Zoo-Housed Adult Female Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus) that Differ in Relatedness

The chance to experience positive social interactions is important for captive animals. The amount of positive or negative social interactions that occur within groups of captive animals can be used to evaluate the welfare of the group and determine how compatible the individuals may, or may not, be. In the wild, elephants live in related, multigenerational herds that consist of mainly mothers, daughters, and their offspring. However, in captivity, they are often kept in groups of unrelated individuals, which could reduce the quality of their social interactions, and thus their welfare. Here, we recorded the social interactions between elephants in two groups of four captive female Asian elephants; in one group, all of the individuals were related to one another, whilst in the other, only two out of four individuals were related. We observed more affiliative (friendly) interactions and fewer aggressive interactions in the all-related group. We also observed elephants freely giving way to others more in the related group, with daughters giving way to their mothers and aunts, which is evidence of an established, family-based rank system that allows them to avoid escalation to aggression. These findings support the recommendation that for optimal welfare, elephants should be managed in multigenerational family herds