Elephants Elephants - Wildpro - Twycross Zoo

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Some interesting suggestion emerge form recent work (Benz 2005): he
highlights areas which may require further investigation: 1
• The floor in most zoos might be made of a substrate that is too hard
• The sole and pad horn in many captive elephants is too thin- this could
be due to floors that are too abrasive and too frequent foot care
• The horn quality is frequently poor, this may be diet related
An overgrown sole can lead to cracks, overhangs, pockets and resultant
infections especially where environmental conditions are wet and dirty.
Overgrowth of nails, which are not weight bearing structures, may lead to
vertical and horizontal cracks and painful ingrowing nails. Deep nail cracks,
i.e. those penetrating the sensitive corium - are difficult to treat. Affected nails
should be shortened to prevent ground contact and resultant widening of the
crack as the elephant walks, and opened up down to the corium if necessary.
Inadequate foot care can readily predispose lameness, local and even systemic
infections. Chronic wet and dirty conditions often underlie foot infections and
abscesses are a common sequel to injury or inadequate care. These require
drainage, repeated flushing with antiseptics, maintaining the feet in clean and
dry conditions, footbaths and even systemic antibiotics. Severe infection in
the soft tissues of the feet may lead to osteomyelitis in adjacent bone &
suppurative arthritis in joints.
Comprehensive accounts of foot care and the problems of elephants’ feet can
be found in (Fowler 1993; Csuti et al 2001).
African elephants feet should be watched for signs of overgrowth and
infection, as they tend not to get these problems.
It is necessary for all collections to aspire to keep their elephants on substrates
and in such a way that feet do not get overgrown or infected.
Musculoskeletal System
Lameness resulting from soft tissue injuries (strains & sprains, muscle
bruising, etc.) sustained during the rough and tumble of elephant social life
are not uncommon in captive animals and can usually be treated
conservatively. Most elephants falling into moats have been pushed!
However, more serious conditions are encountered and include:
Chain injuries. These are usually avoidable and are indicative of poor
chaining technique (see Appendix 2, Section 6.2).
Degenerative joint disease is probably more common in captivity than in the
wild, and is often seen in older captive animals. The causes are poorly
understood but inadequate exercise (and therefore prolonged periods of
chaining in some circumstances), damp, cold, and hard floors are probably
contributory. Mycoplasmal arthritis has also been suspected as a possible
cause (Clark et al 1981; Mikota et al 1994Chapter 19)). The parenteral
administration of polysulphated glycosaminoglycan can produce some
1 This section on the work of Benz is new