Research Article: Nishant M. Srinivasaiah, Vijay D. Anand, Srinivas Vaidyanathan, Anindya Sinha. Usual Populations, Unusual Individuals: Insights into the Behavior and Management of Asian Elephants in Fragmented Landscapes

Blog Author: Aishwarya Anilkumar

Key Takeaways:

  • Animal populations and individuals respond to long-term and short-term changes in their immediate environment.
  • Elephants live in complex societies, and these magnificent species may be able to cope with rapid environmental changes with their learning capacities and sophisticated cognitive decision-making abilities. 
  • Threats like the illegal hunting of elephants for ivory brought about changes in their population. Therefore, it is vital to enhance our understanding of the behavioral decisions made by elephants.
  • Scientists have conducted a fascinating behavioral study in Bannerghatta National Park to learn more about certain adaptive behavioral decisions made by Asian elephants.
  • Sixty individually-identified elephants were observed for 200 hours in a 184-km2 grid-based survey.
  • The study indicates that individuals were responsible for the primary decisions, independent of biological and ecological attributes.
  • This research suggests that models based on decision-making by individual elephants have the potential to predict conflict in fragmented landscapes that could aid in mitigating human-elephant conflict. 

 

Animal populations and individuals respond to long-term and short-term changes in their immediate environment. Species in nature have innately adapted to changes like the availability of resources and seasonal variation. Complications arise for animals when there are unpredictable short-term changes in the environment that have occurred as a consequence of human interference. A classic example is the wild populations that intersect with human-dominated landscapes. This might be incredibly challenging for megafauna such as elephants. 

Elephants live in complex societies, and these magnificent species may be able to cope with rapid environmental changes with their learning capacities and sophisticated cognitive decision-making abilities. Anthropogenic disturbances have been a massive threat to these species, occasionally threatening their survival. 

Threats like the illegal hunting of elephants for ivory brought about demographic changes that might have required elephants to adapt rapidly, and behaviorally to such drastic ecological changes. Therefore, it is vital to enhance our understanding of the behavioral decisions made by elephants. These decisions are influenced both by their biology and their ecology. Knowledge gaps about these behavioral aspects have left us with unresolved management issues, particularly related to human-elephant conflict (HEC). Inevitably, this has rendered ineffective several mitigation measures adopted to reduce conflicts in human-use landscapes.

Scientists have conducted a fascinating behavioral study in the Bannerghatta National Park in southern India to learn more about certain adaptive behavioral decisions made by Asian elephants. They studied movement behavior and the social interactions of elephants in response to resource availability and human disturbance in their habitat. Behavioral observations of elephants were conducted in a 184-km2 grid-based survey for 200 hours in the dry season on 60 individually-identified elephants in their natural habitats and human-used landscape within and outside the Bannerghatta National Park.  

Elephants in the study area were found majorly in resource-rich and undisturbed habitats. Elephants were associated with smaller groups and increased movement rates in highly disturbed areas. The study shows that at the population level, the behavioral decisions seemed to be guided by the gender, age, and group type of the elephants. Whereas, at the individual level, the observed variation could be explained only by the distinctive behaviors of individuals. The study indicates that the individuals were responsible for the primary decisions, independent of biological and ecological attributes.

This intriguing study shows how decision-making by Asian elephants appears to be determined at two levels. One is at the population and the second, more importantly, at the individual. This research suggests that models based on decision-making by individual elephants have the potential to predict conflict in fragmented landscapes and, in turn, could aid in mitigating HEC. The study reiterates the importance of understanding individual elephant behavior alongside the population, in our efforts to manage and conserve these endangered gentle giants, particularly in human-dominated landscapes.

 

You can access the original article here.

Keywords: Elephant conservation, Human-Elephant Conflict, Population, Behavior Ecology, Conservation management.