Letting elephants lead: evidence-based husbandry changes to enhance herd welfare

Enhancing the welfare of animals in human care is a fundamental priority for the zoological community and necessitates animal-centric management strategies informed by robust scientific evidence. This study investigated behavioural changes in a herd of six Asian elephants ( Elephas maximus ) at Melbourne Zoo following the transition from a fixed husbandry routine (Version 1) to a more flexible husbandry routine (Version 2) that increased temporal, spatial, and resource variability, expanded opportunities for choice, and minimised herd fragmentation. Behavioural data were collected across 17 days for each of the two husbandry routine versions, and activity budgets were compared across individual elephants using non-parametric paired analyses to assess changes between Version 1 and Version 2. Following the implementation of Version 2, abnormal repetitive behaviours significantly decreased across the herd from 10.55% to 6.26% (a reduction of 4.29 percentage points; p = .031), and anticipatory behaviours significantly decreased from 14.17% to 8.16% (a reduction of 6.01 percentage points; p = .031). These were accompanied by a significant increase in feeding behaviours (eating, foraging, and drinking), from 29.97% to 39.34% (+9.37 percentage points; p = .031) and a significant increase in self-maintenance behaviours, such as wallowing, from 2.59% to 6.35% (+3.76 percentage points; p = .031). In contrast, environmental engagement decreased significantly from 7.51% to 2.33% (-5.18 percentage points; p = .031), as did social behaviours, from 3.57% to 1.36% (-2.21 percentage points; p = .031). The concurrent reductions in abnormal repetitive and anticipatory behaviours alongside increases in feeding and self-maintenance behaviours suggest that the revised husbandry routine supported a positive shift in the distribution of activity budgets. However, decreases in environmental engagement and social behaviours demonstrate that this shift was not uniform across all species-typical behaviours, highlighting the importance of interpreting individual changes within the broader activity budget. Overall, these findings demonstrate the value of systematic behavioural monitoring in evaluating and refining husbandry practices, and illustrate how behavioural data, combined with animal care staff expertise, can inform adaptive management to support the welfare of elephants in human care.