Journal
ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH
Volume 23, Issue 6, Pages 1057-1064Publisher
SPRINGER TOKYO
DOI: 10.1007/s11284-008-0466-4
Keywords
captive elephants; Elephas maximus; diet; frugivory; Myanmar
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Funding
- Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science [200611492-2437]
- Smithsonian Institution's National Zoological Park
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At an elephant camp in central Myanmar (Burma), we interviewed mahouts and veterinarians to describe the diet of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in a mixed-deciduous forest. Elephants showed a broad dietary breadth (103 plant species from 42 families); consumed mostly browse (94% of plant species); and were very selective about plant parts [e.g., many trees were eaten exclusively for their bark (22%) or fruits (14%)]. The fruits from 29 plant species were recorded to be eaten by elephants. Several of these were found as fruit remains, seeds, or seedlings in elephant dung, suggesting a role of Asian elephants in seed dispersal. Work elephants and their mahouts prove to be a rich source of information to understand wild elephant ecology.
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