12月11日的《科学》杂志报道说，生活在野外的大象比生活在囚禁中的大象要更健康且活得更长。这一发现可能标志着一个长期存在的争论的终止。这一争执是关于大象的身体和精神健康的情况。它也可能对全世界的动物园带来某些变化。
英国皇家防止虐待动物协会（RSPCA）Ros Clubb及其同僚分析来自 4500多头大象的数据后发现了将大象引进动物园会损害其生存能力的经验性的证据。研究人员提示，大象生命早期的受到压力的经验、在动物园之间的迁移以及可能失去它们母亲等诸因素都与在这些动物园大象中记录到的广泛存在的健康和生殖问题有关。研究人员审查了那些野生的亚洲象和非洲象的数据，并将其与欧洲动物园中大象的数据进行比较后得出了这些结论。
鉴于这一结果，文章的作者建议对囚禁状态的大象进行压力和肥胖症迹象的筛检，以辨识出可能有问题的大象个体。他们还呼吁停止将大象从它们的本土国家进口的作法，并建议繁殖大象应该限于在那些对囚禁状态下出生的大象没有有害影响的动物园中。。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
Science，Vol. 322. no. 5908, p. 1649，Ros Clubb，Georgia J. Mason
Compromised Survivorship in Zoo Elephants
Ros Clubb,1 Marcus Rowcliffe,2 Phyllis Lee,3,4 Khyne U. Mar,2,5 Cynthia Moss,4 Georgia J. Mason6*
We analyzed data from over 4500 elephants to show that animals in European zoos have about half the median life span of conspecifics in protected populations in range countries. This discrepancy is clearest in Asian elephants; unlike African elephants in zoos, this species' infant mortality is very high (for example, twice that seen in Burmese timber camps), and its adult survivorship in zoos has not improved significantly in recent years. One risk factor for Asian zoo elephants is being moved between institutions, with early removal from the mother tending to have additional adverse effects. Another risk factor is being born into a zoo rather than being imported from the wild, with poor adult survivorship in zoo-born Asians apparently being conferred prenatally or in early infancy. We suggest stress and/or obesity as likely causes of zoo elephants' compromised survivorship.
1 Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), Wilberforce Way, Southwater, West Sussex, RH13 9RS, UK.
2 Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London NW1 4RY, UK.
3 Psychology Department, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK.
4 Amboseli Trust for Elephants, Post Office Box 15135, Nairobi, Kenya.
5 Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK.
6 Animal Sciences Department, University of Guelph, Guelph N1G 2M7, Canada.
