Gastrointestinal parasites of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus L. 1798) in south Wayanad forest division, Kerala, India.

Microscopic-coprological examination of Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus L., 1798) dung piles (n = 55) in South Wayanad Forest Division from March to August, 2017 revealed 74.5% prevalence of parasites in elephants. Ancylostoma sp. Anoplocephala sp., Strongyle type egg and Strongyloides sp. were the major parasites recorded. Strongyloides sp. and Strongyle type egg were observed more frequently (58.1%). Ancylostoma sp. and Anoplocephala sp. were constituted 1.8% each; mixed parasitic species infections were recorded. The frequency distribution of parasitic load in elephants showed skewed distribution of propagules. Centrifugal sedimentation and floatation methods of fecal examination of outer and inner regions of dung did not show significant difference in number of propagules. The highest number of parasitic propagules was recorded in floatation method. The number of propagules varied among dung samples of different herds collected from different localities. There were no relation between the parasitic load and age of elephants. The mean density of parasite eggs was higher in solitary animals (214.3 ± 155.4 epg) than herd elephants (147.78 ± 111.1 epg). Though parasitic load was higher in solitary males, based on the occurrence of parasites using logistic regression it was found that females had 1.83 times higher occurrence for parasitic infection than males. Both length and width of parasite egg size classes were used to classify into different taxonomic groups using discriminate function analysis. Three distinct size clusters were identified. Nematode and Cestode eggs were classified correctly with 95.7% accuracy. Since, the egg size was similar in nematode group separation into genus was difficult. Further, inclusion of stages of development of egg and larvae enable better separation.