Taking the Elephants' Perspective: Remembering Elephant Behavior, Cognition and Ecology in Human-Elephant Conflict Mitigation

Abstract

Conflict between humans and wildlife is an increasing problem worldwide due to human population growth and habitat fragmentation, with growing interest amongst scientists and conservationists in developing novel solutions toward sustainable coexistence. Current efforts to mitigate human-wildlife conflict, however, are often unbalanced; they consider immediate human-centric concerns and offer deterrents against wildlife, rather than offering solutions to the underlying problems. Recently, there has been an increase in the number of calls to action for the integration of animal behavior, cognition and knowledge of individual variation into conservation practice. However, as elephant researchers, we have seen that most human-elephant conflict mitigation strategies employed in Asia and Africa are based on conditioning fear in elephants, or general monitoring of individual or group activities aimed at altering elephant movements, rather than understanding and providing for elephant and human needs. We see an opportunity to do more by investigating elephant behavior, cognition and ecology at the level of the individual to prevent conflict from occurring in the first place. Here, we review studies on elephants to illustrate this concept and to outline avenues for the application of research on elephant ecology, life history, behavior and personality to the development of new, comprehensive conservation strategies that take both human and elephant behavior into account.

Elephants have a nose for quantity

“…Future research would be crucial in understanding the precise mechanisms that elephants and other olfactory animals use to discriminate quantities, and the ecological significance of such an ability. For instance, elephants' acute sense of smell could help them make important foraging and social decisions from far-enough distances so as to mitigate potential risk in human-dominated landscapes (52). It would also be important to study these effects in wild elephants, as the current study focused on captive animals living in unique environments with access to diverse food resources provided by human caretakers.…”

An experimental test of community‐based strategies for mitigating human–wildlife conflict around protected areas

“…Because human–elephant conflict involves both elephants and humans, efforts to foster coexistence should ideally integrate the modification of both elephant behavior (Mumby & Plotnik, ) and human behavior/perceptions, the latter of which are shaped by myriad factors (Dickman, ; Treves & Bruskotter, ). Attitudes toward wildlife and protected areas are influenced not only by crop losses per se, but also by the degree to which individual beliefs and values are included in decision‐making processes (Infield, ; Bennet et al., ).…”

“…The availability of high-quality forage in cultivated croplands attracts wildlife (e.g., Middleton et al, 2017), and crop raiding causes billions of dollars in economic losses every year (Conover, 2002). Crop raiding by elephants (Loxodonta africana, Elephas maximus) poses an especially severe threat to human livelihoods in agroecosystems of Africa Because human-elephant conflict involves both elephants and humans, efforts to foster coexistence should ideally integrate the modification of both elephant behavior (Mumby & Plotnik, 2018) and human behavior/perceptions, the latter of which are shaped by myriad factors (Dickman, 2010;Treves & Bruskotter, 2014). Attitudes toward wildlife and protected areas are influenced not only by crop losses per se, but also by the degree to which individual beliefs and values are included in decision-making processes (Infield, 2001;Bennet et al, 2016).…”

Exploring movement decisions: Can Bayesian movement‐state models explain crop consumption behaviour in elephants (Loxodonta africana)?

“…This trade‐off decision between exploring risky habitat versus attractive forage becomes evident in situations like elephant crop consumption, as elephants risk travelling in human‐dominated landscapes in order to consume highly attractive agricultural crops or access other in need resources (Mumby & Plotnik, ). Elephant crop consumption is both an issue of conservation and of farmer livelihood concern, and is especially evident in areas of high elephant and high human densities, such as northern Botswana (Gupta, ; Mackenzie & Ahabyona, ; Osborn, ; Pozo, Coulson, McCulloch, Stronza, & Songhurst, ; Songhurst, ; Songhurst & Coulson, ).…”

“…While some habitats contain more attractive forage than others, the costs of moving in a habitat-in time, energy and risk-may reduce their attractiveness (Senft et al, 1987). This trade-off decision between exploring risky habitat versus attractive forage becomes evident in situations like elephant crop consumption, as elephants risk travelling in human-dominated landscapes in order to consume highly attractive agricultural crops or access other in need resources (Mumby & Plotnik, 2018).…”