The driving force behind our research is conservation.

Elephants in Sri Lanka occupy a precarious position. On one hand, they are a beloved cultural icon, and Sri Lanka contains the largest concentration of elephants of any Asian country. On the other hand, decreasing and fragmented habitat combined with high elephant densities leads to human–elephant conflict. Unfortunately, human–elephant conflict is not only detrimental to individual elephants and elephant populations, but it also can be devastating to the physical and economic security of human communities that share landscapes with elephants and other wildlife.

To inform strategies to mitigate human–elephant conflict, our research program comprises two major themes. First, we conduct animal-centered research on elephant demographics, behavior, and physiology to understand how individuals respond to environmental pressures, including changing resource availability, complex social landscapes, and increasing human activity. In appreciating how elephants perceive and manage these challenges, we can better plan conservation interventions. Second our human-centered research seeks to engage community members so that we can better understand the impact of the conflict on human attitudes and perceptions towards elephants and conservation. Our team recognizes that people living around elephants often have been marginalized, and we actively seek opportunities to give them a voice in our work.

Learn more about some of our ongoing research below.

  • Minneriya and Kaudulla National Parks in central Sri Lanka are the locations of the world-famous annual elephant gathering, whereby hundreds of elephants congregate around the centralized water tanks that the parks contain. However, the driving forces and consequences of this gathering is largely unknown. Not only are the parks a destination for local and international tourists, but they are also surrounded by human activity and agriculture.

    Our team monitors elephants in Minneriya and Kaudulla to better understand the demographics and social behavior of the elephants that participate in the gathering. We hope to better understand why elephants gather in this area (as opposed to other areas on the island). We are particularly interested in male elephants, given the propensity of males to engage in human–elephant conflict through crop-raiding. Male elephants are social opportunists, and they are often observed in variable social groupings, spending time alone, in loosely connected “bachelor groups,” and in consorts with females. We are building a growing database of these males to characterize behavioral and physiological implications of the gathering.

  • Sri Lanka’s economy depends on a flourishing tourism industry, and visitors from all over the world come to see the largest concentration of elephants anywhere in Asia. At the same time, it is important that this tourism develops sustainably and without compromising the wellbeing of the wildlife, including elephants.

    Led by SLEP Graduate Research Assistant Darshika Jayarathna, we are conducting non-invasive research to better understand elephant responses to tourism in Minneriya National Park. We collect behavioral data during park operating hours to characterize the range of reactions that elephants exhibit towards tourist vehicles. Additionally, we collect fecal samples to measure prolonged physiological responses to tourism.

  • Successful conservation strategies require a certain level of tolerance from local communities. Furthermore, tolerance towards wild elephants is influenced by perceptions, which are largely formed through local communities interacting with wild elephants in their environment. Factors such as socioeconomic status, education levels, and demographic factors such as age and sex may also influence perceptions. While it is important to understand elephant ecology in order to develop conservation strategies, it is also important to engage people who live among elephants to make these strategies sustainable. The tolerance of local communities towards wildlife is fundamental to the success conservation efforts. This project seeks to evaluate perceptions of local communities living around Minneriya National Park towards human-elephant conflict and elephant conservation.

We are committed to ethical and sustainable research.

We recognize the importance of incorporating the input of local stakeholders in conservation-driven research. The field of conservation biology flourishes when diverse communities have seats at the table. We seek to ensure our work is not extractive from these communities. Instead, we design all research to uplift and empower these groups to make informed decisions about the future of elephants and other natural resources in Sri Lanka, and we have received third-party ethical clearance for all human subjects research. Learn more about our commitment to the next generation of conservationists on the island.

Additionally, we have a strong responsibility to animal welfare in all of our work. Our research is non-invasive and follows guidelines for the ethical treatment of nonhuman animals in behavioral research published by the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour and the Animal Behavior Society. Furthermore, our research is in collaboration with and permitted by the Department of Wildlife Conservation, and all methods are approved by the appropriate institutional ethics committees. These procedures ensure we have minimal impact on the wildlife and landscapes with which we work.