When we first hear that elephants may have less body fat than humans, our first reaction is clearly disbelief. Since logic tells us that this is simply impossible. However, this approach is not entirely false and you just have to change your perspective a little to be able to notice it.
The researchers behind this approach were Daniella E. Chusyd, Tim R. Nagy, Lilian Golzarri-Arroyo, Stephanie L. Dickinson, John R. Speakman, Catherine Hambly, Maria S. Johnson, David B. Allison, and Janine L. Brown. Once they organized their results, they published them in the Journal of Experimental Biology.
Obese elephants?
For this case, the research focused on Asian elephants ( Elephas maximus ) that were in captivity. Their goal was to determine what risks could be presented to them by having noticeable weight gains.
From the visual observations of ancient research, it was noted that captive elephants appeared to be fatter than wild ones. Hence, it had been assumed that their body fat levels were higher. But in reality, no specific studies had been done on this point.
Now, the new research focuses on just this element. With this, they not only seek to determine the real level of body fat of the elephants, but also the possible origin of this and its consequences on the health and fertility of these animals.
Fitness trackers: the new tool to measure the health and activity of elephants
Today, there are more and more new methods for measuring body fat in humans. However, there are not so many to achieve this in animals. For this reason, the researchers took the idea of our 'fitness trackers' and used their technology to monitor the health, body fat levels, and physical activity of elephants.
In total, they got the collaboration of 9 zoos divided between Canada and the United States. Thanks to these small devices, the researchers were able to track 35 females and 9 males that were in captivity.
The true percentage of body fat in elephants
Once the tracking devices were in place, the elephants were fed bread moistened with water containing high amounts of hydrogen isotopes. Thanks to the readings of these that the fitness trackers gave, the researchers were able to estimate the percentage of water and body fat.
In the end, the male elephants showed an average body fat of 8.5%. For their part, females were a little higher, with 10%. Although these percentages were not compared with wild counterparts, in general, the averages are not alarming - in fact, they are even low compared to other mammals.
Do elephants have less body fat than humans?
If we scale up… yes. In fact, these creatures are also shown to be comparatively more active, which is why they also tend to walk more than humans.
Clearly, if we look at the situation only from sizes, it is impossible for elephants weighing tons to have less body fat than we do. However, if we scale our sizes and weights, we can see that our fat percentage can be higher than that of these giant mammals.
As already mentioned, within the study, the overall body fat percentage of male elephants was 8.5% and that of females 10%. For their part, humans have a much more varied range, with some only reporting 6% body fat and others accumulating up to 31% - more than three times the average in an elephant.
On the health of elephants in captivity
Although body fat levels remained relatively low in elephants, their total weight in captivity did tend to be greater than that of their free-living counterparts. To take their study to the next step, the researchers delved into the possibility that this was due to overeating or lack of physical activity.
Surprisingly, the fitness trackers revealed that the elephants had normal amounts of exercise even in captivity. According to the records, each hour they traveled between 0.03 and 2.8 kilometers - again, more than the average person does.
Added to this, the researchers also found out if the extra weight caused reproductive problems. Naturally, elephants in captivity live less and have fewer young. So they thought that being overweight might be a reason for this, but they didn't notice that it made any difference.
On the other hand, one area where a change was seen was in blood insulin levels, which were higher the more body fat the elephants had. Although it has not been proven, it is suspected that this could pose a health risk for animals, since it would make them prone to developing diabetes.
Reference: Adiposity, reproductive and metabolic health, and activity levels in zoo Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) : DOI: 10.1242 / jeb.219543
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