Adiposity, reproductive and metabolic health, and activity levels in zoo Asian elephant (Elephas maximus)

Acknowledgements The authors thank Dr Barbara Gower, Maryellen Williams, Heather Hunter and Cindy Zeng at the UAB NORC's Metabolism Core for their assistance with hormone assays and mass spectroscopy, and Dr Katie Edwards, Steve Paris and Niki Boisseau at SCBI for inflammatory and estradiol analyses. The authors thank African Lion Safari, Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, Columbus Zoo & Aquarium, Fort Worth Zoo, Little Rock Zoo, Oklahoma City Zoo, Oregon Zoo, Santa Barbara Zoo and Saint Louis Zoo for their participation in this study. Specifically, a very big thank you to the zoos' elephant keepers and elephants, who made this study possible and enjoyable. A special thank you to the Birmingham Zoo and Pat Flora and his elephant team for their continued support, help and input with method improvement. Funding This work was supported in part by the Smithsonian Institution, the UAB Nutrition Obesity Research Center (P30DK056336), the Diabetes Research Center (P30DK079626), the Nathan Shock Center on Aging (P30AG050886), and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (T32HL105349 to D.E.C.). Deposited in PMC for release after 12 months.Peer reviewedPublisher PD