Dataset Information

Treatment and Outcomes of Tusk Fractures in Managed African Savanna and Asian Elephants (Loxodonta africana and Elephas maximus) across Five Continents.

ABSTRACT: Elephant tusk fractures are a clinical challenge that can impact the overall health of the animal, particularly when they result in pulp exposure. An international survey was sent to veterinarians to understand individual fracture characteristics and management strategies as they relate to outcomes, with the goal of better informing treatment procedures. The data set consisted of 79 fractures from 64 elephants (including Asian and African males and females), 44.3% of which were Class III fractures with pulpal involvement. Of this subset, pulp canal exposures of >0.5 cm were 23.8-fold more likely to develop pulpitis than fractures with <0.5 cm exposed, though canal size did not impact healing versus extraction outcome. Odds ratios showed that treatments including endodontics were 12.0-fold more likely to heal than tusks treated exclusively with medical management, though no association was observed in reducing the risk of pulpitis. Further, pulpitis was 7.58-fold more likely to develop when tap water was used to rinse exposed pulpal tissue; a finding that merits further investigation. The use of endodontic treatment versus medical management alone was significantly associated with improved recovery outcomes (i.e., reduced risk of extraction) in tusk fractures with pulpal involvement.

SUBMITTER: Rose JB

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9100196 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Treatment and Outcomes of Tusk Fractures in Managed African Savanna and Asian Elephants (<i>Loxodonta africana</i> and <i>Elephas maximus</i>) across Five Continents.

Rose Josephine B JB Leeds Austin A Yang Linda M LM LeMont Rachel R Fayette Melissa A MA Proudfoot Jeffry S JS Bowman Michelle R MR Woody Allison A Oosterhuis James J Fagan David A DA

Animals : an open access journal from MDPI 20220427 9

Elephant tusk fractures are a clinical challenge that can impact the overall health of the animal, particularly when they result in pulp exposure. An international survey was sent to veterinarians to understand individual fracture characteristics and management strategies as they relate to outcomes, with the goal of better informing treatment procedures. The data set consisted of 79 fractures from 64 elephants (including Asian and African males and females), 44.3% of which were Class III fractur ...[more]

PMID: 35565551

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Project description:Increasing human population growth, exurban development, and associated habitat fragmentation is accelerating the isolation of many natural areas and wildlife populations across the planet. In Tanzania, rapid and ongoing habitat conversion to agriculture has severed many of the country's former wildlife corridors between protected areas. To identify historically linked protected areas, we investigated the genetic structure and gene flow of African savanna elephants in Tanzania using microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA markers in 688 individuals sampled in 2015 and 2017. Our results indicate distinct population genetic structure within and between ecosystems across Tanzania, and reveal important priority areas for connectivity conservation. In northern Tanzania, elephants sampled from the Tarangire-Manyara ecosystem appear marginally, yet significantly isolated from elephants sampled from the greater Serengeti ecosystem (mean F ST = 0.03), where two distinct subpopulations were identified.Unexpectedly, elephants in the Lake Manyara region appear to be more closely related to those across the East African Rift wall in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area than they are to the neighboring Tarangire subpopulations. We concluded that the Rift wall has had a negligible influence on genetic differentiation up to this point, but differentiation may accelerate in the future because of ongoing loss of corridors in the area. Interestingly, relatively high genetic similarity was found between elephants in Tarangire and Ruaha although they are separated by >400 km. In southern Tanzania, there was little evidence of female-mediated gene flow between Ruaha and Selous, probably due to the presence of the Udzungwa Mountains between them. Despite observing evidence of significant isolation, the populations of elephants we examined generally exhibited robust levels of allelic richness (mean A R = 9.96), heterozygosity (mean µH E = 0.73), and effective population sizes (mean N e = 148). Our results may inform efforts to restore wildlife corridors between protected areas in Tanzania in order to facilitate gene flow for long-term survival of elephants and other species.

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Dataset Information

Treatment and Outcomes of Tusk Fractures in Managed African Savanna and Asian Elephants (Loxodonta africana and Elephas maximus) across Five Continents.

Publications

Treatment and Outcomes of Tusk Fractures in Managed African Savanna and Asian Elephants (<i>Loxodonta africana</i> and <i>Elephas maximus</i>) across Five Continents.

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