Page 216 - Zoo Animal Learning and Training

188 Box B2 Human–Elephant Interactions in Semi‐captive Asian Elephants

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Figure B2.1 Historically in Myanmar, and other elephant habitat countries, elephants have been managed by
pairing them when young with a mahout, who is often a young man, with the intention that the pair will
remain together in perpetuity. Source: Jeroen Stevens.

At the age of four years, all calves born in family groups, where they encounter tame
captivity, and sub‐adult elephants measuring and wild conspecifics. The working elephants
1.40 m (4.6 ft) at shoulder height if their age is are maintained as mixed herds consisting of
unknown, are weaned and tamed/trained adult males and females and calves of various
during the cool season (November to January) ages, thus mimicking the social structure of
(Gale 1974). Typically, trained elephants wild elephant herds.
between 5 and 17 years are used as baggage The main characteristic of traditional
elephants and their training is continued until elephant management in Asia, including
they get used to the verbal cue, logging/bag- Myanmar, is close contact between man and
gage harnesses, and fettering chains. elephant; which has some similarities to free‐
Elephants are classified as fully grown at the contact in zoos (Mar 2007; Kurt et al. 2008).
age of 17 years. Two mahouts generally han- The basic principal is that the animal is con-
dle each individual elephant in the work force. trolled by a handler/mahout through domi-
Any bull in musth and some elephants with nation (Montesso 2010) using negative and
aggressive or unreliable temperaments are positive reinforcement to modify behaviour.
assigned an extra mahout who is armed with
a spear (www.myanmatimber.com.mm). At
55 years old working elephants will retire, and Taming Training
spend most of their time roaming and forag-
ing with one mahout who is assigned to take Historically most elephants used by people
care of their well‐being. Some bull elephants that were captured from the wild were tamed
sire calves during retirement. and used as draught animals for various pur-
At night working elephants may forage poses. The only method that existed to tame
unsupervised in the adjacent forests in their the freshly‐caught animal was to break its