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This video is adapted from 10.3390/ani13071133
Thailand is in the tropics, with high temperatures, humidity, and long daylight hours. Seasons affecting estrous cycles have been discovered in the semi-captive Asian elephant in Thailand. In addition, seasonality in reproduction has been reported in sows and cows in the tropic environment. Despite the fact that measurements of the body condition score (BCS) have served as a disease diagnostic tool in terms of screening undernourishment and obesity in veterinarian practice and have been developed and applied in captive elephants, obesity is a growing concern today. The consequences of being overweight are typically not recognized until welfare-related reproductive dysfunctions, such as higher neonate weight, stillbirth, and acyclicity, are present. In captive-managed elephants, ovarian dysfunction and estrous cycling abnormalities are common, which are linked to a variety of issues such as obesity, reproductive tract pathologies, and metabolic derangements. These problems are most likely to contribute to poor reproductive health and then lead to undesirable reproduction. Thus, it is critical and urgent to identify the factors affecting reproductive health and ovarian patterns and thus facilitate fertility. The data for this study were collected from eight captive female elephants. During the rainy, hot, and cool seasons, their BCS was measured. Characteristics of the estrous cycle were studied, including the length of the estrous cycle and the lengths and starts of the luteal phase and follicular phase. The findings revealed that a higher BCS and the start of the follicular phase were highly frequent during the rainy season, which resulted in a longer luteal phase and estrous cycle and higher peak progesterone levels in the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus).