The Behavioral Responses of Elephants to the Maasai in Amboseli

Kangwana, Kadzo

doi:10.7208/chicago/9780226542263.003.0020

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…We attribute the rising numbers of elephants in the park through the 1970s and early 1980s (Fig 2) to elephants fleeing poachers to the safety of the national park (59) where the concentration of tourist vehicles and ranger forces offered protection. The safety factor was also evident in the relaxed behavior of herds in the park and their clumped and agitated formations in moving out of the park (63) and in response to human disturbances (76). Most movements out of the park were nocturnal, a pattern common to other protected area populations in response to human threats (23).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cascading effects of elephant-human interactions in a savanna ecosystem and the implications for ecology and conservation

Western

Mose

2021

Preprint

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Our study monitored the changes in elephant numbers, distribution and ecological impact over a fifty-year period as the free-ranging intermingled movements of wildlife and traditional subsistence pastoralists across the Amboseli ecosystem were disrupted by a national park, livestock ranches, farms, settlements and changing lifestyles and economies. Elephants compressed into the national park by poaching and settlement turned woodlands to grassland and shrublands and swamps into short grazing lawns, causing a reduction of plant and herbivore diversity and resilience to extreme events. The results echo the ecological findings of high-density elephant populations in protected areas across eastern and southern Africa. The impact has led to the view of elephants in parks being incompatible with biodiversity and to population control measures. In contrast to Amboseli National Park, we found woody vegetation grew and plant diversity fell in areas abandoned by elephants. We therefore used naturalist and exclosure experiments to determine the density-dependent response of vegetation to elephants. We found plant richness to peak at the park boundary where elephants and livestock jostled spatially, setting up a creative browsing-grazing tension and a patchwork of habitats explaining the plant richness. A review of prehistorical and historical literature lends support to the Amboseli findings that elephants and people, the two dominant keystone species in the savannas, have been intimately entangled prior to the global ivory trade and colonialism. The findings point to the inadequacy of parks for conserving mega herbivores and as ecological baselines. The Amboseli study underlines the significance of space and mobility in expressing the keystone role of elephants, and to community-based conservation as a way to win space and mobility for elephants, alleviate the ecological disruption of compressed populations and minimize population management.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cascading effects of elephant-human interactions in a savanna ecosystem and the implications for ecology and conservation

Western

Mose

2021

Preprint

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“…The year‐round concentration of elephants in the basin is best explained by the combination of poaching outside and the safety of herds inside the national park, where tourist vehicles and ranger forces offered protection (Moss et al, 2011). The safety factor was also evident in the relaxed behavior of herds in the park, their clumped and agitated formations outside the park (Western & Lindsay, 1984), and their flight into the park when disturbed (Kangwana, 1993). Most movements out of the park were under the safety of night, a pattern common to other protected area populations in response to human threats (Wall et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cascading effects of elephant–human interactions and the role of space and mobility in sustaining biodiversity

Western

Mose

2023

Ecosphere

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Our study monitored the changes in elephant numbers, distribution, and ecological impacts over a 50‐year period. During this period, the free‐ranging intermingled movements of wildlife and traditional subsistence pastoralists across the Amboseli ecosystem were disrupted by a national park, livestock ranches, farms, settlements, and changing lifestyles and economies. Elephants compressed into the national park by poaching and settlement turned woodlands to grassland and shrublands, and swamps into short grazing lawns, causing a reduction of plant and herbivore diversity and resilience to extreme events. The results echo the ecological findings of high‐density elephant populations in protected areas across eastern and southern Africa. The impact has led to the view of elephants in parks as being incompatible with biodiversity and to population control measures. In contrast to Amboseli National Park, we found woody vegetation grew and plant diversity fell in areas abandoned by elephants. We therefore used naturalistic and exclosure experiments to determine the density‐dependent response of vegetation to elephants. We found plant richness to peak at the park boundary where elephants and livestock jostled spatially, setting up a creative browsing‐grazing tension that caused a patchwork of habitats and peak of plant richness. Prehistorical and historical literature reviews lend support to the Amboseli findings that elephants and people, the two dominant keystone species in the savannas, have been intimately entangled and coexisted prior to the global ivory trade and colonialism. The findings point to the need to view specific elephant populations in historical perspective and, as far as possible, create connectivity beyond protected areas to allow mobility on an ecosystem and landscape scale. The Amboseli study underscores the significance of space and mobility in the keystone role of elephants, and community‐based conservation as a way to foster coexistence at an ecosystem and landscape scale. Space and mobility also alleviate the ecological disruption of compressed populations, and minimizes population management.

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“…Responses to risk may differ by sex. Males are more likely to engage in ‘high‐risk, high‐reward’ crop foraging than females, who tend to move through or avoid areas of high anthropogenic risk to reach foraging or water resources (Boult et al, 2019; Kangwana, 1993; Sitati et al, 2003). Elephants also use social strategies to mitigate risk by associating with other elephants to share knowledge or dilute mortality risk (e.g., Sitati et al, 2003; Smit et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anthropogenic risk increases night‐time activities and associations in African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in the Ruaha‐Rungwa ecosystem, Tanzania

et al. 2022

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Elephants face diverse threats from human activities and use temporal and social strategies to reduce human-induced mortality risk. We used data from camera trap surveys in 2018-2019 (n = 1625 independent detection events from 11,751 sampling days) to investigate elephant responses to anthropogenic risk in the Ruaha-Rungwa ecosystem, Tanzania. The study was conducted in one low-risk and three high-risk sites using 26-40 paired camera trap stations per site. Risk influenced the active periods, use of roads and water sources, social associations and behaviour of elephants.Elephants demonstrated significantly more night-time and reduced daytime activity in the high-risk sites relative to the low-risk site. This higher night-time activity in the high-risk sites was observed for both males and females, though it was more pronounced for cow-calf groups than lone males. Foraging events and use of water sources were more frequent at night in the high-risk sites. Elephants used roads as movement routes in the low-risk site but avoided roads in the high-risk sites. Males were significantly more likely to associate with other males and cow-calf groups in the high-risk sites. Fewer occurrences of relaxed behaviours were observed in the highrisk sites compared to the low-risk site. We discuss the potential implications of our findings for elephant survival and reproduction.

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The Behavioral Responses of Elephants to the Maasai in Amboseli

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

Cascading effects of elephant-human interactions in a savanna ecosystem and the implications for ecology and conservation

Cascading effects of elephant-human interactions in a savanna ecosystem and the implications for ecology and conservation

Cascading effects of elephant–human interactions and the role of space and mobility in sustaining biodiversity

Anthropogenic risk increases night‐time activities and associations in African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in the Ruaha‐Rungwa ecosystem, Tanzania

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