Follow us

We enjoy building community among our followers and sharing media related to our work. Follow us on Instagram @LankaElephants to catch up with us in the field.

View fullsize Our field guide shows how our team identifies individual elephants and how to view wildlife responsibly. Available in English and Sinhala, check it out on our website! 🐘
View fullsize The success of conservation projects depends on local communities. One of our research projects is working with communities around Minneriya National Park by conducting surveys and understanding how elephants are perceived by people who live among th
View fullsize From all of us at The Sri Lanka Elephant Project, warm wishes for a happy Sinhala and Tamil New Year! 🇱🇰
View fullsize Elephants play an important role in Sri Lanka’s tourism, bringing visitors from all over to see elephants gather in Kaudulla and Minneriya National Parks. Graduate Research Assistant, Darshika Jayarathna, is leading non-invasive research to und
View fullsize What does human-elephant conflict really mean? With decreasing and fragmented habitats, elephants and humans are coming into contact more than ever before. Many people in Sri Lanka depend on small-scale agriculture, and with less land available for
View fullsize Interested in actively working on conservation efforts in Sri Lanka? Then come join our team! 🐘🐒 Open to Sri Lankan citizens, we’re hiring a Field Research and Operations Manager for the Sri Lanka Elephant Project and the Kaludiyapokuna Prima
View fullsize Elephants in Sri Lanka live on the edge of different ecosystems, grazing in parks during the day and entering farmland at night. Inevitably, elephants come into conflict with humans in their efforts to find high value crops. Our research is working t
View fullsize Celebrate our field assistants, Malsha, Darshika, and Praveena as we commend their amazing work today and every day! These women are leaders in the field of conservation and science. Their hard work, passion, and dedication is powering the next gener

Community-based conservation

Our work is inspired by the human communities that live alongside elephants and other wildlife in Sri Lanka. Take a look at a video produced by the SLEP team for schoolchildren. Video is in Sinhala.

Field guide:
The Elephants of Sri Lanka

We created this field guide for tourists visiting and tour operators working in Sri Lanka. The guide educates readers about how our team identifies individual elephants in the field and encourages responsible wildlife viewing. The guide is currently available in English and Sinhala.

Illustrations by Cliff Casey, design by Marcel Martinez Vargas and Autumn Heigle.

The Elephants of Sri Lanka by The Sri Lanka Elephant Project is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

English version (3.8MB)

Sinhala version (3.9MB)

Research publications

As a science-based project, we believe it is important to disseminate our findings to the broader scientific community. You can read some of our research outputs here for personal or scientific use. Any other use or dissemination is prohibited by various copyright laws.

Aspects of the demography and social behaviour of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in the Minneriya and Kaudulla National Parks (2024)

A.G.S. Malsha Warnapura, K.H. Darshika L. Jayarathna, Chase A. LaDue, and Rajnish P.G. Vandercone,

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Behavioral responses of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) to tourist vehicles in and around Minneriya National Park (2024)

K.H. Darshika L. Jayarathna, A.G.S. Malsha Warnapura, Rajnish P.G. Vandercone, and Chase A. LaDue

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Physical and behavioral indicators associated with hormonal changes during musth in zoo-housed and free-ranging Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) (2022)

Chase A. LaDue, Kathleen E. Hunt, M.G. Sachintha M. Samaraweera, Rajnish P.G. Vandercone, Wendy K. Kiso, and Elizabeth W. Freeman

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Social behavior and group formation in male Asian elephants (Elephas maximus): The effects of age and musth in wild and zoo-housed animals (2022)

Chase A. LaDue, Rajnish P.G. Vandercone, Wendy K. Kiso, and Elizabeth W. Freeman

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Behavioral characterization of musth in Asian elephants (Elephas maximus): Defining progressive stages of male sexual activity in in-situ and ex-situ populations (2022)

Chase A. LaDue, Rajnish P.G. Vandercone, Wendy K. Kiso, and Elizabeth W. Freeman

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The influence of habitat changes on elephant mortality associated with human-wildlife conflict: Identifying areas of concern for human-elephant cohabitation in the north central dry zone of Sri Lanka (2021)

Chase A. LaDue, Sarah M. Farinelli, Imira Eranda, Chandana Jayasinghe, and Rajnish P.G. Vandercone

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Permanent scars of human-elephant conflict: Patterns inferred from field observations of Asian elephants in Sri Lanka (2021)

Chase A. LaDue, Rajnish P.G. Vandercone, Wendy K. Kiso, and Elizabeth W. Freeman

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Mortality patterns of Asian elephants in a region of human-elephant conflict (2021)

Chase A. LaDue, Imira Eranda, Chandana Jayasinghe, and Rajnish P.G. Vandercone

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