Save Elephants in the Wild

Elephant Conservation Projects

Elephants are a "keystone" species. They act as architects of the forest and savanna, by opening areas for other wildlife to be able to feed, by being seed dispersors, and as mineral salt miners. They are also highly vulnerable to poaching for their valuable ivory tusks, and more recently for their meat.

For these reasons, Wildlife Conservation Society has long supported projects directly concerning elephant conservation in central and east Africa, and south east Asia. Some of these efforts are long term, to understand elephant and forest ecological needs; others are shorter term, taking advantage of new technologies for understanding elephant movements.

Following the decision in 1998 by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to allow a one-off sale of stockpiled ivory from a few east African countries where elephant populations are robust, WCS was asked to help establish an elephant monitoring program in central Africa to ensure that this decision did not have a deleterious effect on the more endangered forest elephants. MIKE (Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephant) is coordinated by WCS's Dr. John Hart and covers all of the central African forests, including both protected and unprotected areas. This risk assessment for Africa's forest elephant populations will serve as an early warning system on the elephant's status and inform the debate on the question of trade in ivory.

Increasing technical and monitoring capacity

Because tracking forest elephants is impeded by the thick canopy and understory, WCS is developing and implementing new survey techniques to monitor elephant populations and their movements. To ensure that monitoring and protection of these elusive animals continues well into the future, all projects include training programs to enhance central Africa's local technical and professional capacity.

Dr. Lee White directs and teaches a regional training program that introduces 25 central African biologists and wildlife managers per year to ecological survey and monitoring techniques. These trainees have come from five central African countries. A major objective of the training is to identify field and analytical leaders, train them in standardized survey and census methods and GIS (Geographic Information Systems), and to establish a collaborative basis of data collection, analysis and presentation. This training is enabling them to fully participate in the elephant-monitoring program. In the past year Dr. White has trained the elephant survey officers of the MIKE program

Research and assessments

Dr. Steven Blake works on a long term applied ecology study looking at migration, ranging and protection of Elephants in a tri-national region of Central African Republic, Cameroon, and the Republic of Congo. Using radio collars and satellite tracking systems he has been able to map the previously unknown migration patterns of these magnificent animals. These data allow WCS field managers, and their national counterparts in the MIKE program, to better allocate limited animal protection personnel, thereby reducing the likelihood of elephant poaching for ivory.

In the Central African Republic, Dr. Andrea Turkalo continues her nine-year study of demographics and social dynamics of forest elephants in the Dzanga Sangha National Park. She can now identify 2,500 individual elephants and can determine the relationships between individuals. Her very presence assures the safety of one of the last sizeable forest elephant populations. In addition, this year she participated in a new bioacoustics research program with Comell University to develop new acoustic monitoring techniques to facilitate forest elephant monitoring. These data are also providing logistical support to MIKE.

In east Africa, savannas are open landscapes and elephant are more readily monitored using airplanes. However, there is a history of heavy poaching even within national parks, which reached its zenith in the 1970's. In Tanzania, Dr. Charles Foley

is examining the effects of past poaching on elephant herd's social systems and the importance of migration corridors for elephants in the Tarangire National Park ecosystem. The loss of older, experienced, herd matriarchs due to poaching has left some family groups without the knowledge of where to locate food during drought periods. As a result, herds poached in the past are reluctant to leave the park and its protection. In drought years, this has resulted in death by starvation for many elephants and has an impact on the population as a whole.

The current focus in the field is on human/elephant conflict, which has increased as elephant populations have expanded along with human populations. Areas set aside as national parks are not big enough to accommodate the elephant's natural migration. During drought periods confinement is further exacerbated by the lack of fruit within the park areas, resulting in increased crop raiding. Agricultural damage is also widespread when elephants move between refuges.

In Zimbabwe's Zambezi Valley, Dr. Ferrel Loki Osborn looks at practical implications of conserving links between elephant refuges in an area of growing human settlement. He uses tracking of radio collared elephants to monitor herd movements, and he is developing and testing new deterrence techniques, such as the use of hot pepper, for crop-raiding elephants. Deterrence starts with the design of the farm itself. Clearing a path between forest and fields helps elephants to realize they are on hostile territory. Planting a perimeter of hot peppers and dense, thorny thickets of sisal- a source of poles and cord fiber- not only discourages elephant from proceeding further, it also provides a new cash crop. Finally erecting a pepper and grease coated twine fence around the most desirable crops in the center, provides the final protection. Reducing crop damage and involving the local community through education, training and GPS mapping will assure agreement on an open corridor for migration.

In Kenya, Dr. David Western, is exploring the broader ecological principles sustaining biodiversity of the savannas, the threats they face from humanity and the conservation strategies needed to reconcile human growth and wildlife interests to mutual benefit. He is currently focusing on elephant ecology and sedentarization of Maasai pastoralists because of their inordinate impact on biodiversity. Included are testing of techniques to deter elephant crop-raiding and involvement of local populations in eco-tourism as an economic incentive for them to protect wildlife rather than killing it when there is conflict.

In south east Asia, understanding the extent of human/elephant conflict is also the focus of work in Sumatra. The Asian elephant is now classified as endangered by the IUCN. In Bukit Barisan Selatan and Way Kambas national parks, with forest cover declining and human population increasing, Dr. Margaret Kinnaird

is updating the conservation status of elephant, determining the extent of human/elephant conflict and developing solutions to ensure the long term persistence of elephants. As part of this effort, WCS operates a research and training center to increase local capacity in survey techniques, crop-damage assessment, and community outreach. Trainees include: park guards, mahouts, Indonesian biologists, local NGO members and local technicians. A GIS map database is being established which will enable Drs. O'Brien and Kinnaird to make effective recommendations for mitigating crop damage and loss.

In Myanmar, rapid loss of habitat due to human population growth and development activities has resulted in escalating human-elephant conflicts. Lack of quantitative information on the status and distribution of wild elephants is a serious impediment to planning conservation activities to ensure their continued survival into the future. So far WCS surveys in two remote, potentially high priority areas for elephant found that elephant populations in both areas are threatened. WCS country program officer, U Saw Tun Khaing is initiating training of Bunnese nationals in elephant survey techniques, gathering data on the relative abundance and status of elephants in remaining habitats, and testing a monitoring protocol. The work will contribute towards the development and implementation of a National Elephant Action Plan for Myanmar.

Financial support is greatly needed to further the work of these projects. Donations may be made to WCS International Conservation's general fund or to support specific areas of interest. Together we can make a difference to the future of the world's elephant population and its co-existence with local human populations.

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