A “thinking animal” in conflict: studying wild elephant cognition in the shadow of anthropogenic change

Plotnik, Joshua M.; Jacobson, Sarah L.

doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2022.101148

Cited by 9 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…This remaining suitable habitat available to elephants on Sumatra likely relates to the species' adaptability to various habitats, including grasslands, open forest, and agricultural landscapes (de la Torre et al, 2021 ; Moßbrucker et al, 2016 ). Elephants are also highly intelligent and exhibit flexibility in regards to landscape and resource use (Koirala et al, 2015 ; Plotnik & Jacobson, 2022 ). Our study suggests that more suitable habitat remains on Sumatra than is used by the known populations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond protected areas: The importance of mixed‐use landscapes for the conservation of Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus)

Imron,

Glass,

Tafrichan

et al. 2023

Ecology and Evolution

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Elephants were once widely distributed across the Indonesian island of Sumatra but now exist in small, isolated populations. Using the best data available on elephant occurrence, we aimed to (a) predict potential habitat suitability for elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus) across the island of Sumatra and (b) model landscape connectivity among the extant elephant populations. We used direct sightings and indirect observations of elephant signs, as well as six remotely sensed proxies of surface ruggedness, vegetation productivity and structure, and human land use and disturbance, to model habitat suitability in a Google Earth Engine (GEE) environment. We validated the habitat suitability prediction using 10‐fold spatial block cross validation and by calculating the area under the precision‐recall curve (AUC‐PR), sensitivity, and specificity for each model iteration. We also used a geolocation dataset collected from global positioning system (GPS) collars fitted on elephants as an independent validation dataset. Models showed good predictive performance with a mean AUC‐PR of 0.73, sensitivity of 0.76, and specificity of 0.68. Greater than 83% of the independent GPS collar geolocations were located in predicted suitable habitat. We found human modification, surface ruggedness, and normalized difference vegetation index to be the most important variables for predicting suitable elephant habitat. Thirty‐two percent, or 135,646 km2, of Sumatra's land area was predicted to be suitable habitat, with 43 patches of suitable habitat located across Sumatra. Areas with high connectivity were concentrated in the Riau and North Sumatra provinces. Though our analysis highlights the need to improve the quality of data collected on Sumatran elephants, more suitable habitat remains on Sumatra than is used by known populations. Targeted habitat conservation, especially of the suitable habitat in and around the Lamno, Balai Raja, Tesso Tenggara, Tesso Utara, Bukit Tigapuluh, Seblat, Padang Sugihan, and Bukit Barisan Selatan ranges, may improve the long‐term viability of this critically endangered species.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond protected areas: The importance of mixed‐use landscapes for the conservation of Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus)

Imron,

Glass,

Tafrichan

et al. 2023

Ecology and Evolution

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“…When studying specialized species that have evolved hydrostat-like structures, it is essential to remember that these structures were discovered because these animals still exist. We are seeing a rapid decline of our bio-diversity, and new ideas and techniques in fields such as conservation physiology can be used not only to study these species but also to gain valuable insight into how we can conserve those in decline ( Jacobson et al, 2022 ; Plotnik and Jacobson, 2022 ; Tuia et al, 2022 ). Using new technology such as DeepLabCut has insights into the field of biomechanical understanding, as well as generating new types of conservation implications ( Schulz et al, 2023a preprint) and by functioning jointly with zoological and aquarium organizations, interdisciplinary collaborations can open pathways for more informed research on hydrostat systems ( Schulz et al, 2022c ).…”

Section: Future Prospectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Year at the Forefront of Hydrostat Motion

et al. 2023

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Currently, in the field of interdisciplinary work in biology, there has been a significant push by the soft robotic community to understand the motion and maneuverability of hydrostats. This Review seeks to expand the muscular hydrostat hypothesis toward new structures, including plants, and introduce innovative techniques to the hydrostat community on new modeling, simulating, mimicking, and observing hydrostat motion methods. These methods range from ideas of kirigami, origami, and knitting for mimic creation to utilizing reinforcement learning for control of bio-inspired soft robotic systems. It is now being understood through modeling that different mechanisms can inhibit traditional hydrostat motion, such as skin, nostrils, or sheathed layered muscle walls. The impact of this Review will highlight these mechanisms, including asymmetries, and discuss the critical next steps toward understanding their motion and how species with hydrostat structures control such complex motions, highlighting work from January 2022 to December 2022.

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“…HIREC is responsible for introducing novel threats that many animals are simply not adapted to overcome. Many anthropogenic environmental stimuli may fail to activate adaptive behavioural responses due to the novelty or unpredictability of the stimuli and thus affect the likelihood of survival [110][111][112][113]. The strong selective pressures humans exert upon animal behaviour and its underlying cognitive processes are clear in the case of ecological or evolutionary traps (ecological traps are habitat-based whereas evolutionary traps are at a wider scale) [113].…”

Section: Environmental Change and Trapsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One recent pair of studies in an endangered species, the Asian elephant ( Elephas maximus ), showed that both captive [ 140 ] and wild [ 141 ] elephants can innovate on a similar problem-solving task, although the authors did not compare performance between the populations. It is also likely that cognitive flexibility varies within species and within populations [ 112 , 141 ], suggesting that considering individual variation in certain cognitive traits, and its environmental or genetic determinants, should also be an important factor when considering how best to select ex-situ individuals for reintroduction.…”

Section: The Wild Brainmentioning

confidence: 99%

The endangered brain: actively preserving ex-situ animal behaviour and cognition will benefit in-situ conservation

Clark,

Greggor,

Montgomery

et al. 2023

R. Soc. open sci.

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Endangered species have small, unsustainable population sizes that are geographically or genetically restricted. Ex-situ conservation programmes are therefore faced with the challenge of breeding sufficiently sized, genetically diverse populations earmarked for reintroduction that have the behavioural skills to survive and breed in the wild. Yet, maintaining historically beneficial behaviours may be insufficient, as research continues to suggest that certain cognitive-behavioural skills and flexibility are necessary to cope with human-induced rapid environmental change (HIREC). This paper begins by reviewing interdisciplinary studies on the ‘captivity effect’ in laboratory, farmed, domesticated and feral vertebrates and finds that captivity imposes rapid yet often reversible changes to the brain, cognition and behaviour. However, research on this effect in ex-situ conservation sites is lacking. This paper reveals an apparent mismatch between ex-situ enrichment aims and the cognitive-behavioural skills possessed by animals currently coping with HIREC. After synthesizing literature across neuroscience, behavioural biology, comparative cognition and field conservation, it seems that ex-situ endangered species deemed for reintroduction may have better chances of coping with HIREC if their natural cognition and behavioural repertoires are actively preserved. Evaluating the effects of environmental challenges rather than captivity per se is recommended, in addition to using targeted cognitive enrichment.

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A “thinking animal” in conflict: studying wild elephant cognition in the shadow of anthropogenic change

Cited by 9 publications

References 59 publications

Beyond protected areas: The importance of mixed‐use landscapes for the conservation of Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus)

Beyond protected areas: The importance of mixed‐use landscapes for the conservation of Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus)

A Year at the Forefront of Hydrostat Motion

The endangered brain: actively preserving ex-situ animal behaviour and cognition will benefit in-situ conservation

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