Elephants on the Move: Implications for Human–Elephant Interactions

Asian elephants often traverse large areas to gather food and water. However, the environment in which they live is dynamic (changing with the seasons). Some of these changes in the environment, however, are accelerated due to human-induced factors. To survive and persist in fragmented, human-dominated landscapes, especially in the Anthropocene, elephants often need to modify their behaviour. Some of these modifications may be short-term adaptations that include altering their time-activity budgets in response to changing local ecological and anthropogenic settings, while others could be long-term shifts in home ranges in response to large-scale changes in land use and global climatic events. In this chapter, using empirical data, the authors assess the behavioural adaptability of elephants, as determined by their innate biological variables, such as age, sex and grouping patterns at the population level. They also discuss the impacts of global climatic changes on the behaviour and distribution of Asian elephants, as evidenced through studies conducted on these aspects. They discuss how elephants, in general, avoid areas of high human use. In addition, their recent studies suggest that elephants may be altering their social systems and forming all-male groups-a novel social unit in Asian elephants-in highly human-dominated landscapes in order to persist and at times successfully exploit resources. The issues highlighted in this chapter may be significant for the future management of human-elephant conflict and the conservation of Asian elephants, as most management strategies do not take into account variability in elephant behaviour or impending climate change in implementation