Environmental factors induced crop raiding by wild Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) in the Eastern Economic Corridor, Thailand

Abstract

Crop raiding are an increasing concern in wildlife conservation. This study identified the environmental factors that cause wild Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) to enter sub-urban and rural areas and share resources with humans in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) in the eastern part of Thailand. The snowball method was used to interview villagers that had crop raiding experienced in seven provinces of the EEC and adjacent provinces in the eastern part of Thailand in 2020, and data from 183 households indicated that crop raiding had increased continuously from 2000 to 2020, especially in Chonburi, Chachoengsao, and Prachinburi provinces, which have seen increases in damaged agricultural areas. MaxEnt analysis showed an increase in incidents of crop raiding, while the elephants distribution area decreased from 9534 km2 in 2000 to 5199 km2 in 2010 and 4850 km2 in 2020. The study area has had land use changes in the low elevations from croplands of cassava and sugar cane to eucalyptus, para rubber, and fruits. These mixed crop plantations provide a pseudo-habitat for wild Asian elephants. The results from this study provide evidence that changes in land use and reduction of suitable habitat are factors that influenced the movement of wild Asian elephants to the rural agricultural areas and increased the incidents of crop raiding.

Variation of weekly home range characteristics of Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus) in Bentang Seblat, Bengkulu Province, Indonesia

“…Sumatran elephants will avoid difficult terrain, such as very steep slopes, to save energy usage (Jiang et al 2023). In accordance with Wilson et al (2021) and Wettasin et al (2023), Sumatran elephants prefer flat to gentle slopes with consideration of ease of accessibility in fulfilling daily needs and movement of Sumatran elephants, especially when meeting predators.…”

“…Santoro et al (2023) state that the forest area on Sumatra Island, which is the habitat of Sumatran elephants, has decreased by 356,100 ha/year. Conflicts occurred in all Sumatran elephant distribution areas, namely Aceh, North Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, Bengkulu, South Sumatra and Lampung (Wettasin et al 2023;Yoza et al 2023). One of the areas with the highest conflict in Bengkulu is the Bentang Seblat (Imtiyaaz et al 2021).…”

Testing the Effectiveness of the “Smelly” Elephant Repellent in Controlled Experiments in Semi-Captive Asian and African Savanna Elephants

“…Crop-raiding by elephants is one of the most prevalent forms of human-elephant conflict and is increasing with the spread of agriculture into wildlife range areas [14,15]. It is well documented that, at certain times of the year, the nutritional value of cultivated food crops is greater than that of natural forage [16][17][18][19], which is attractive to elephants [20].…”