Intelligent Asian Elephants and Their Ebbing Environments

According to World Wildlife Fund, Asian elephants are the largest land mammals on the Asian continent. They inhabit forests and grasslands in 13 countries across Southeast Asia. While they have preferred foods, the animals have adapted to surviving on resources that vary based on their environments.

There are many types of intelligence in the animal kingdom, and it seems that almost every day, we learn something more about them. Of course, it’s hard to separate what we call “intelligence” from our own, human bias, but we do now know that many animals have beliefs, can count, are able to use tools, and hold funerals and mourn their dead.

Now, a new study has documented the abilities of wild Asian elephants to access food by solving puzzles that unlock storage boxes. It’s the first scientific investigation to show that individual, wild elephants have different skills and levels of enthusiasm for using problem-solving to get food.

Such alacrity in wild animals is going to be needed, because the human impacts leading to reductions in the habitat ranges of several land-based mammal species have been well documented in the recent past. Climate change has only accelerated this decline. Assessing the effects of such changes on wildlife over the long term, however, has been difficult due to the lack of historical records. Recently, though, a new study examining habitats across centuries—using data on Asian elephants—has shed light on the urgent need for sustainable conservation and land-use strategies to avoid dangers for both human and wildlife communities.

More than two-thirds of an Asian elephant’s day may be spent feeding on grasses, tree bark, leaves, roots and small stems. But cultivated crops, such as bananas, rice and sugarcane, are favorites. A new study even shows some elephants accessing food by solving puzzles that unlock storage boxes.

The unparalleled puzzle-solving skills of wild Asian elephants

Individual innovation is considered one sign of intelligence within species, and elephants are among the animals that researchers have long taken an interest in because of their sophisticated approach to problem-solving. That was demonstrated recently in a first-of-its-kind study that shows that individual wild elephants have different gradients of acumen when presented with a food-access challenge. The study’s findings were published in the scientific journal Animal Behaviour in November 2023.

Conducted at the Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, the six-month-long study used motion-activated cameras to observe 77 wild Asian elephants who approached and then decided whether to attempt to open puzzle boxes with three differently configured compartments that contained highly aromatic jackfruit. Depending on the compartment with which the elephant interacted, the jackfruit could be accessed by pulling on a chain so that the door opened toward the elephant, pushing the door so that it swung open into the box, or sliding the door open to the right. The elephants had to independently engage with the puzzle boxes to discover how the compartments could be opened.

Over time, 44 of the elephants who approached the puzzle boxes inspected them, but there were individual differences in how innovative the elephants were. The researchers found that elephants who interacted with the puzzle boxes more frequently and with greater persistence were more successful in retrieving food from all three differently configured compartments.

The biggest threat to Asian elephants is habitat loss and fragmentation. Asia is the most populous continent on Earth, and development and economic growth have led to encroachment into elephant habitats. World Wildlife Fund says about 70% of Asian elephants now live outside of protected areas.

Overall, 11 elephants solved one compartment type, and eight solved two compartment types. Five elephants solved all three types, making them what we would regard as the most innovative.

With human-elephant conflict increasing due to loss of natural habitats and agricultural encroachment into what is left of them, exploring innovation and problem-solving in elephants could help us further understand wild elephant cognitive flexibility and its potential impact on conservation management and conflict mitigation. This is important knowledge, because how animals think and innovate may influence their ability to survive in environments that are rapidly changing due to our presence.

The drastic decline of wild Asian elephant ecosystems

Not only are Asian elephants’ environments in flux, but they’re also indicators of how land uses have changed over hundreds of years.

Growing human settlements, farming, industry and linear infrastructure (irrigation canals, railway lines and roads) have squeezed elephant populations into smaller pockets of forest and blocked traditional migratory routes. Suitable elephant habitats have been cut by two-thirds in the past 300 years.

The largest living land animal in Asia, endangered Asian elephants once inhabited grasslands and rainforests that spanned the breadth of the continent. But by analyzing land-use data from the years 850 to 2015, an international scientific team led by University of California San Diego researchers estimates that more than 64% of historic suitable elephant habitat across Asia has been lost. While elephant habitats remained relatively stable prior to the 1700s, colonial-era land-use practices in Asia—including agriculture, farming and timber extraction—cut the average elephant habitat patch size more than 80%, from 38,224 to 6,177 square miles.

The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports in April 2023, also suggests that the remaining elephant populations today may not have adequate habitat space. While 100% of the area within 62 miles of the current elephant range was considered suitable habitat in 1700, by 2015 the proportion had declined to less than 50%. This sets up a high potential for conflicts with people living in those locales as elephant populations alter their behavior and adjust to more human-dominated areas.

Using information from the Land-Use Harmonization (LUH) dataset, produced by researchers at the University of Maryland, the researchers created historical reconstructions of various types of land uses—including crops, forests and pastures—that reach back to the ninth century. Pairing present-day locations where elephants are known to live with the corresponding environmental features based on the LUH datasets, they were able to infer where similar habitats existed in the past.

More than 1,158,306 square miles of the Asian elephant’s historic habitat range has been lost in just three centuries. They included lands under traditional systems of management that were altered within the past three centuries, and the loss of these traditional practices may be a major reason behind the loss of elephant habitat. The authors argue that whatever the reasons, this dramatic decline may underlie present-day conflicts between elephants and people.

Important cultural icons in Asia, elephants have had close associations with humans over many centuries. In one Hindu myth, gods and demons churned the oceans in a search for the elixir of life that would make them immortal. As they did so, nine jewels surfaced, one of which was the elephant.

The scientists chose Asian elephant environments for their study because they are a good gauge for looking at the impact of land-use changes on diverse ecosystems over a long timescale. But beyond the immediate impact on the elephants, the results offer a mechanism to assess land-use practices and much-needed conservation strategies for all the area’s inhabitants as we head into the future. They add that any attempts at Asian elephant habitat restoration should be guided by a reckoning of environmental and social justice for historically marginalized communities.

The compelling communications of wild Asian elephants

Elephants communicate over long distances using low-pitched sounds that are barely audible to humans. These powerful, infrasonic rumbles contain specific messages that can be heard and understood by other elephants more than two miles away. In fact, it’s been found that African elephants can detect rumbling in the ground with sensory cells in their feet. The vibrations travel through their bodies to their inner ears. It’s speculated that elephants use these vibrations to converse with each other over even longer distances. Scientists believe such abilities are essential for elephant survival.

I think it’s also imperative that we “hear” the elephants, that we use our intelligence to comprehend their call for adequate living space, and that we recognize the earthshaking truths that are rumbling right under our feet.

Here’s to finding your true places and natural habitats,

Candy

See Asian elephants in the wild on Nat Hab’s Grand India Wildlife Adventure! 

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