Risk and Ethical Concerns of Hunting Male Elephant: Behavioural and Physiological Assays of the Remaining Elephants

Burke, Tarryne; Page, Bruce R.; Dyk, Gus van; Millspaugh, J. J.; Slotow, Rob

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0002417

Cited by 36 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…The demonstrated increase in stress in elephants, possibly associated with a heightened sensitivity to human disturbance and a lack of resources, could have other significant effects on their behavior and physiology [33]. Our study elephants, for example, significantly reduced their audible vocalizations when in highly human-disturbed areas.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 58%

Usual Populations, Unusual Individuals: Insights into the Behavior and Management of Asian Elephants in Fragmented Landscapes

Srinivasaiah

Anand²,

Vaidyanathan³

et al. 2012

PLoS ONE

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BackgroundA dearth in understanding the behavior of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) at the scale of populations and individuals has left important management issues, particularly related to human-elephant conflict (HEC), unresolved. Evaluation of differences in behavior and decision-making among individual elephants across groups in response to changing local ecological settings is essential to fill this gap in knowledge and to improve our approaches towards the management and conservation of elephants.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe hypothesized certain behavioral decisions that would be made by Asian elephants as reflected in their residence time and movement rates, time-activity budgets, social interactions and group dynamics in response to resource availability and human disturbance in their habitat. This study is based on 200 h of behavioral observations on 60 individually identified elephants and a 184-km2 grid-based survey of their natural and anthropogenic habitats within and outside the Bannerghatta National Park, southern India during the dry season. At a general population level, the behavioral decisions appeared to be guided by the gender, age and group-type of the elephants. At the individual level, the observed variation could be explained only by the idiosyncratic behaviors of individuals and that of their associating conspecific individuals. Recursive partitioning classification trees for residence time of individual elephants indicated that the primary decisions were taken by individuals, independently of their above-mentioned biological and ecological attributes.Conclusions/SignificanceDecision-making by Asian elephants thus appears to be determined at two levels, that of the population and, more importantly, the individual. Models based on decision-making by individual elephants have the potential to predict conflict in fragmented landscapes that, in turn, could aid in mitigating HEC. Thus, we must target individuals, in addition to populations, in our efforts to manage and conserve this threatened species, particularly in human-dominated landscapes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 58%

Usual Populations, Unusual Individuals: Insights into the Behavior and Management of Asian Elephants in Fragmented Landscapes

Srinivasaiah

Anand²,

Vaidyanathan³

et al. 2012

PLoS ONE

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“…Elevated stress responses are not uncommon following wildlife reintroduction (Teixeira et al, 2007), but previously little was known about how long stress hormones remain elevated postrelease (Dickens et al, 2010). Within the reserves we studied, elephant FGMs have been shown to vary in relationship to fluctuations in the availability of key nutrients in their forage (Woolley et al, 2009), human disturbance both in the form of tourism (Pretorius, 2004;Burke, 2005) and hunting (Burke et al, 2008), as well as stochastic events such as catastrophic fires (Woolley et al, 2008). Within the reserves we studied, elephant FGMs have been shown to vary in relationship to fluctuations in the availability of key nutrients in their forage (Woolley et al, 2009), human disturbance both in the form of tourism (Pretorius, 2004;Burke, 2005) and hunting (Burke et al, 2008), as well as stochastic events such as catastrophic fires (Woolley et al, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Within a given reserve, short-term elevations in stress hormones have been observed in response to acute environmental stressors (Burke et al, 2008;Woolley et al, 2008), including daily maximum temperature and rainfall (Burke, 2005). Within a given reserve, short-term elevations in stress hormones have been observed in response to acute environmental stressors (Burke et al, 2008;Woolley et al, 2008), including daily maximum temperature and rainfall (Burke, 2005).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Delayed physiological acclimatization by African elephants following reintroduction

2013

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Managers of reintroduced wildlife commonly encounter behavioral problems post-release that have been linked to physiological condition and elevated stress hormone concentrations. However, there is uncertainty about the generality of a stress response among populations, factors influencing the intensity of the response and the amount of time needed to physiologically acclimatize. We evaluated the relationship of temporal, climatic and social factors to stress hormone concentrations in five African elephant (Loxodonta africana) populations following reintroduction. We determined fecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations (FGMs) in 1567 fecal samples collected from elephants reintroduced to five fenced reserves with differing reintroduction histories in South Africa during 2000-2006. Variation in FGMs across the five reserves was best explained by the number of years that elapsed since initial release. Compared with FGMs 1 year after release, FGMs were 10% lower 10 years after release and 40% lower 24 years after release. Across all reserves, FGMs were consistently highest in the dry season, although daily and monthly temperature and rainfall were not as important as other factors. FGMs did not vary solely in relationship to reserve size or elephant density. Our findings suggest that regardless of reintroduction site conditions, elephants and likely other species subject to reintroduction require an extended period of time to physiologically acclimatize to their new surroundings. Managers should prepare for prolonged behavioral and physiological consequences of long-term elevated stress responses following reintroduction, such as restricted space use and aggressive behavior. bs_bs_banner Animal Conservation. Print ISSN 1367-9430 Animal Conservation 16 (2013) 575-583

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“…FGMs provide a noninvasive measure of the internal physiological state of animals and have received wide‐scale use in a variety of vertebrate taxa (Millspaugh & Washburn ), including African elephants (Burke et al . ; Gobush, Mutayoba & Wasser ; Viljoen et al . ; Woolley et al .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unravelling complex associations between physiological state and movement of African elephants

et al. 2013

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Summary1. Despite the identification of internal state as a fundamental component of animal movement, the effect of an individual's internal physiological state on movement remains poorly understood. African elephants (Loxodonta africana) alter their behaviour in response to their physiological state, and elevated stress hormone concentrations have been associated with reclusive behaviour and aggression towards humans. Thus, a better understanding of the link between internal physiological state and movement is important in advancing the field of movement ecology, and the ecology and management of elephants. 2. We compared the movement paths of African elephants in two physiological states (basal and elevated stress hormone levels) to understand the variation in the use of space in relation to the proximity of environmental features and refugia. 3. We documented differences in the elephants' use of space along movement paths by physiological state. Elephant family groups in a basal physiological state tended to venture away from refugia and commercial tree plantations, and use areas in closer proximity to fresh water. In contrast, elephant family groups in an elevated physiological state tended to use areas near refugia and commercial tree plantations. The use of commercial tree plantations during elevated states highlights an important concern for human safety in the context of humanelephant conflict. 4. Synthesis and applications. Our findings suggest that fine-scale movement patterns and the use of specific environmental features by elephants are associated with differences in elephant physiological state. Therefore, future attempts to describe or predict typically complex animal movement could be enhanced by incorporating measures of their physiological state. Given that elephants are more prone to habitat disturbance and aggression when in an elevated physiological state, information about elephant movement behaviour could be used in combination with real-time tracking data to predict when and where elephants are potentially in elevated physiological states and limit human access to these areas, which might mitigate humanelephant conflict.

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Risk and Ethical Concerns of Hunting Male Elephant: Behavioural and Physiological Assays of the Remaining Elephants

Cited by 36 publications

References 22 publications

Usual Populations, Unusual Individuals: Insights into the Behavior and Management of Asian Elephants in Fragmented Landscapes

Usual Populations, Unusual Individuals: Insights into the Behavior and Management of Asian Elephants in Fragmented Landscapes

Delayed physiological acclimatization by African elephants following reintroduction

Unravelling complex associations between physiological state and movement of African elephants

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