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Box B2

Human–Elephant Interactions in Semi‐captive Asian Elephants
of Myanmar
Khyne U. Mar

Due to the centuries‐old tradition of close (specially trained elephants that are typically
proximity with humans, captive elephants in used to drive wild elephants). Traditionally,
the range states of Asia are now generally each elephant has its own mahout (head
recognised as ‘domesticated’ or ‘tamed’ ele- rider; see Figure B2.1) assigned from a young
phants. In Myanmar, elephants have been age, who cares for the elephant through to
used in logging practises since around 1800 retirement, who they interact with on a daily
where elephants were of great use to British basis. Timber elephants have been recorded
imperialists (Saha 2015), especially in the to have a lifespan twice that of their zoo liv-
construction of roads and railway tracks, and ing counterparts with an average of 56 years
transporting goods and people in difficult in the wild compared to 16.9 years for zoo
terrain (Bryant 1993). In earlier days, the elephants (Clubb et al. 2008). Furthermore,
captive stock of timber elephants were captive‐born timber elephants have been
replenished by capturing wild elephants and found to have higher levels of fitness and sur-
as a combination of this and breeding from vival compared to their wild‐caught counter-
them, the numbers of working elephants parts (Mar 2007).
slowly increased in captivity. Alongside this
rise in the captive elephant population was
an increase in veterinary knowledge, train- Management of Working
ing, and husbandry to help maintain the Elephants in Myanmar
elephants’ health and productivity. Most tra-
ditional elephant trainers are ethnic minori- Almost 47% of Myanmar is covered in forest,
ties of Karen and Khamti‐Shan with an in‐depth representing one of the largest forested coun-
knowledge and understanding of the man- tries in mainland Southeast Asia. Since 1856,
agement, taming, and husbandry of ele- Myanmar has applied selective logging,
phants (Saha 2015). called the Myanmar Selection System (MSS),
Myanmar is home to the world’s largest where mature trees are selectively harvested
captive population of about 5500 Asian ele- with a cutting cycle of 30 years. MSS uses
phants (Elephas maximus); the majority of elephants for this process, which is consid-
which are still working in the timber indus- ered to contribute to sustainable forest man-
try. Elephants are also used to work in forest agement and to maintain biodiversity at the
patrols, tourism, transport, or as kunkies logging site (Khai et al. 2016).

Zoo Animal Learning and Training, First Edition. Edited by Vicky A. Melfi, Nicole R. Dorey, and Samantha J. Ward.
© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2020 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.