African Elephant Demography and Foraging Strategies

African elephants Loxodonta africana are both a “flagship” species, due to their worldwide popularity, as well as an “umbrella” species, because efforts aimed at preserving their extensive ranges will benefit other species. Tourists flock to Africa to see elephants and they are quite popular in zoos. But a conservation conundrum confronts elephants in Africa: expanding human populations require resources to sustain their growth, which often results in conflicts with elephants over land useage.

The primary goal of this project, undertaken by the Behavioral Biology Division of CRES, will be to conduct a systematic research program aimed at documenting how demographic and social factors among elephants influence their feeding and ranging behavior and result in conflicts with the local population. Our methods will involve collecting basic data on elephant social behavior, herd size and structure, feeding and ranging behavior, and biological samples if possible. The ultimate aim of the project will be to train, educate, and empower the local population to develop conservation management programs based upon scientific evidence about elephant activity that will enable the elephants and people to cohabit.

Elephants require an enormous range in order to accommodate their feeding requirements, given their social and mating systems. Their survival depends upon preserving large tracts of land outside of natural reserves and parks, such as contained in the Northern Rangelands Trust area.

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Watch the Wild Animal Park's African elephants daily on Elephant Cam.