Strategies of Protected Area Use by an Ecosystem Engineer

Protected areas (PAs) are necessary for conserving animal populations amidst human expansion, but may be insufficient for fully accommodating the needs of wide-ranging species. Animals’ use of space and PAs may vary by age, life-history and social considerations. We quantified sightings and behavior of 516 adult Asian elephants from both sexes, over 9 years, to investigate how life history traits and behavior influence PA use at Udawalawe National Park, Sri Lanka. Male PA use, quantified in terms of average between-sightings-interval (BSI), was significantly influenced by the interaction of age class and motivational state (i.e. reproduction vs. foraging). A minority of males (11%) used it exclusively during mate-search, while the remainder used it exclusively for foraging (44%) or both (45%). Females’ average BSI was significantly yet weakly influenced by social ties, indicating that members of social communities do not necessarily disperse together as a unit. Inter-annual variability in sightings among individuals of both sexes indicates that over half of the population are likely non-residential, challenging the dominant fortress-conservation paradigm of wildlife management in many parts of Asia. Our observations underscore that elephant populations in PAs may be more heavily dependent on adjacent landscapes than hitherto acknowledged.