Publication Date

2025

Advisor(s) - Committee Chair

Doug McElroy, Bruce Schulte, Chase LaDue, Natalie Mountjoy

Degree Program

Department of Biology

Degree Type

Master of Science

Abstract

Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC) is an increasingly common event that arises from resource competition due to overlaps in human and elephant environments. Using a conservation behavior approach, the behaviors of elephants can be studied to enhance conservation efforts to mitigate HEC by better predicting which elephants engage in HEC. To understand the factors that affect individual behavioral types of adult Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), my project examined the behavioral patterns displayed by an elephant population in Sri Lanka. I collected demographic and behavioral data of a subset of 15 adult elephants to determine individual differences in five behavioral categories: Affiliation, aggression, dominance, submission, and social contentment. Data collection occurred between May and August 2024 throughout Minneriya National Park in north central Sri Lanka. I addressed the questions “Do individuals display consistent, distinct individual behavioral differences or is there flexibility in their displays along an environmental gradient as a function of sex, number of vehicles and elephants present, and habitat type?” Behavioral observations were conducted weekly by recording state and event behaviors for one adult during 10-minute focal observation periods. Linear mixed-effect models were utilized for each temperament category to investigate if and how the displays varied. Differential behavior displays between the five behavior categories were evident with flexibility of expressions along different environmental gradients within each category. Understanding what influences an Asian elephant’s behavior within populations that live near human populations is another step towards alleviating HEC in Sri Lanka, and a conservation behavior approach may be beneficial to other HEC and HWC situations.

Disciplines

Biology | Life Sciences | Social and Behavioral Sciences

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