The African Bush Elephant (Loxodonta africana) has been heavily sought after for its beautiful ivory tusks. The tusks of a mature Elephant weigh up to 150 pounds each.  This means a tusk can be worth $500,000 on the black market- an enticing offer for poachers. 

A group of “researchers studying the Ruaha-Rungwa ecosystem in Tanzania” found that poaching has driven African Bush Elephants to change their behaviours.

Using their sight, smell, and hearing, Elephants can detect if humans will be a threat to them. This impacts when they will visit certain areas. The researchers observed  how elephants behaved near 3 hot spots of poaching activity and 1 safer spot, frequented by tourism and park rangers.

The researchers put up camera traps across the study sites to track the Elephants. That footage revealed changes in the behaviour patterns of the African Bush Elephants as they moved between sites, fed, and visited water sources.

The low risk area showed that African Bush Elephant activity was higher during the day, peaking at dusk. But, high risk sites had much lower rates of activity during the day and increased activity at night. This trend remained true for all three behaviours.

Poachers tend to hunt at night, when elephants rest or sleep and are easier to kill. This research shows that, in response, African Bush Elephants delay daytime activities until nighttime, especially in high risk sites. If they went to watering holes and walked at night, it would be much harder for them to be found. Being alert and awake at night also gives them an advantage if they need to react to poachers quickly.  

The increase in nocturnal activity the study revealed is especially significant because behavioural changes may have adverse effects. At night, time for foraging may be more limited and draining.  For Mother Elephants this means they may not be able to get the required amount of energy needed to nurse and raise calves. There is also a higher chance that calves in these herds may not survive because they become easy prey for larger nocturnal predators – lions and hyenas. 

Mother Elephants recognize the need to reduce risk for themselves and their calves which is why they choose to engage in nocturnal activity more frequently. Despite the disadvantages to nocturnal activity, Mother Elephants view poachers as the biggest threat to their survival. As a result, they knowingly decide the best outcome is to avoid poachers, even if it costs them their health. While nightly activities means there could be a higher success rate for calf survival, any loss is still detrimental to a population that already suffers from an extreme rate of decline.  

While African Bush Elephants are able to adapt to their changing conditions, they still need protection. There is no doubt that people have a strong impact on Elephants’ decision making. Like us, Elephants are able to process and store information – they remember who hurt them and seek to avoid them. When we present ourselves in a non-threatening manner we can use this to increase the creation of safer spaces for Elephants. Having more people who want to be park rangers to fight poachers or open up more park spaces to peaceful tourists who will make it harder for poachers to sneak around. Having seen the effects of human actions on them, taking a step towards creating more low-risk areas for Elephants to lead normal lives will help keep populations safe for the future.