Table 3.
Milk composition from six Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) consuming a natural diet in Myanmar sampled over an eight-month period during late lactation (17–38 months) (n = 36 samples). Data (mean ± standard deviation (SD)) presented on a wet basis.
| Constituent | Mean ± SD | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Water, % | 82.44 ± 3.65 | (72.28–86.74) |
| Total Solids, % | 17.56 ± 3.65 | (13.26–27.72) |
| Total Fat, % | 15.10 ± 3.87 1 | (7.59–23.48) |
| Liquid fat layer, % of total fat | 79.19 ± 12.44 | (38.77–95.75) |
| Cream fat layer, % of total fat | 20.81 ± 12.44 | (4.25–61.23) |
| Crude Protein, % | 5.23 ± 1.66 | (1.82–8.81) |
| Ash, % | 0.87 ± 0.16 | (0.51–1.17) |
| Vitamin E (µg/mL) | 0.18 ± 0.014 | (0.16–0.21) |
1 One sample from the wet season was deemed an outlier and excluded from fat analyses.