African elephants are keystone species facing severe declines due to the ivory trade and habitat loss. To investigate the genomic consequences, we analyze 232 high-coverage genomes from 17 African countries in the first continent-wide genomic analysis treating savanna (Loxodonta africana) and forest (L. cyclotis) elephants as distinct species. We find a deep divergence between species, with forest elephants showing higher heterozygosity and historically larger effective population sizes, while savanna elephants exhibit greater inbreeding and genetic load. Surprisingly, we detect widespread introgression of trace forest ancestry across savanna populations, suggesting a complex history of hybridization. Within species, historically high mobility promoted genetic connectivity, though we identify signs of human-induced isolation and drift in peripheral populations. Our findings highlight gene flow as a key force in African elephant evolution and underscore the urgency of understanding the impact of accelerating habitat fragmentation in these ecosystem engineers.

Ivory poaching continues to threaten African elephants. We (1) used criminology theory and literature evidence to generate hypotheses about factors that may drive, facilitate or motivate poaching, (2) identified datasets representing these factors, and (3) tested those factors with strong hypotheses and sufficient data quality for empirical associations with poaching. We advance on previous analyses of correlates of elephant poaching by using additional poaching data and leveraging new datasets for previously untested explanatory variables. Using data on 10 286 illegally killed elephants detected at 64 sites in 30 African countries (2002–2020), we found strong evidence to support the hypotheses that the illegal killing of elephants is associated with poor national governance, low law enforcement capacity, low household wealth and health, and global elephant ivory prices. Forest elephant populations suffered higher rates of illegal killing than savannah elephants. We found only weak evidence that armed conflicts may increase the illegal killing of elephants, and no evidence for effects of site accessibility, vegetation density, elephant population density, precipitation or site area. Results suggest that addressing wider systemic challenges of human development, corruption and consumer demand would help reduce poaching, corroborating broader work highlighting these more ultimate drivers of the global illegal wildlife trade.

Rescue, rehabilitation, and release (‘rescue-rehab-release’) of wildlife is an increasingly widespread practice across ecosystems, largely driven by habitat loss, wildlife exploitation and a changing climate. Despite this, its conservation value has not been realized, in part due to the scarcity of what has been termed “the 4th R”, research. Similar to conservation breeding and headstarting, rescue and rehabilitation entails close association of humans and the wildlife in their care over impressionable and extended periods. However, unlike these interventions, rescue and rehabilitation require an initial, and sometimes sustained, focus on crisis management and veterinary needs which can impede the development of natural behaviors and promote habituation to humans, both of which can compromise post-release survival and recruitment. In this perspective, we discuss the pathways toward, and implications of, behavioral incompetence and highlight opportunities for testable interventions to curtail negative outcomes post-release, without compromising the health or welfare of rescued individuals. We propose that practitioners ‘switch gears’ from triage to fostering behavioral competence as early in the rehabilitation process as is possible, and that research be implemented in order to develop an evidence-base for best practices that can be shared amongst practitioners. We focus on four mammalian species to illustrate specific contexts and considerations for fostering behavioral competence by building on research in the conservation translocation literature. Finally, we discuss a way forward that calls for greater cross-pollination among translocation scenarios involving extended time under human care during developmentally sensitive periods.

Translocation of elephants is used to mitigate human-elephant conflict in Asia and Africa. However, few studies investigate how translocations affect the movements and social behaviour of individuals following their release, which may have important implications for whether translocated animals survive and succeed. Using GPS-tracking data, we explored movements of five translocated bull elephants (Loxodonta africana) moved to Tsavo, Kenya, and compared them with five resident bull elephants. Position data was collected hourly for 1 year (March 2018-March 2019), and analysed to investigate home range, displacement rates, problematic behaviour and group size. Of the five translocated elephants, three were illegally killed and one continued to break fences and raid crops. Only one elephant stayed away from human settlement. We found group size and composition to be significantly different, with translocated elephants observed in smaller groups with no female elephant interactions. All elephants showed variation in home ranges and displacement rates, but differences were not significant between resident and translocated elephant groups. For future translocations, we recommend careful consideration of elephant social systems, elephant age, timing, release site and proximity to human settlements that might create human-elephant conflict. This will improve chance for success of such high-stake and expensive translocations.

The ability to locate essential resources is a critical step for wildlife translocated into novel environments. Understanding this process of exploration is highly desirable for management that seeks to resettle wildlife, particularly as translocation projects tend to be expensive and have a high potential for failure. African savannah elephants ( Loxodonta africana ) are very mobile and rely on large areas especially in arid environments, and are translocated for differing management and conservation objectives. Thus, research into how translocated elephants use the landscape when released may both guide elephant managers and be useful for translocations of other species that adjust their movement to social and ecological conditions. In this study, we investigated the movement of eight GPS tracked calves (translocated in three cohorts) following their soft release into a 107 km 2 fenced wildlife sanctuary in northern Kenya and compared their movement with that of five tracked wild elephants in the sanctuary. We describe their exploration of the sanctuary, discovery of water points, and activity budgets during the first seven, 14, and 20 months after release. We explored how patterns are affected by time since release, ecological conditions, and social factors. We found that calves visited new areas of the sanctuary and water points during greener periods and earlier post-release. Social context was associated with exploration, with later release and association with wild elephants predictive of visits to new areas. Wild elephants tended to use a greater number of sites per 14-day period than the released calves. Activity budgets determined from hidden Markov models (including the states directed walk, encamped, and meandering) suggested that released calves differed from wild elephants. The first two cohorts of calves spent a significantly greater proportion of time in the directed walk state and a significantly lower proportion of time in the encamped state relative to the wild elephants. Our results represent a step forward in describing the movements of elephant orphan calves released to the wild following a period of profound social disruption when they lost their natal family and were rehabilitated with other orphan calves under human care. We discuss the implications of the elephant behavior we observed for improving release procedures and for defining success benchmarks for translocation projects.

This management piece documents the outcome of an elephant translocation from Isiolo to Tsavo East National Park, Kenya in November 2021. The translocation aimed to reduce human-elephant conflict in the area and to prevent any retaliation toward the elephants. This was achieved by removing the ‘problem elephant group’, however the aim of resettling the elephants in Tsavo was not achieved, as the group fragmented and some swiftly moved far outside release site. Two elephants, which we were able to monitor through satellite collars, exhibited homing behaviour and both left Tsavo East National Park within 1-7 weeks of being released. If translocation continues to be the method of choice for problem elephants, there is a need for thorough planning and sound science to inform future operations, which should include collaring of each individual. Trained personnel and substantial budgeting for post release monitoring, and any potential conflict-reduction interventions, are therefore key management considerations for ensuring the health and wellbeing of translocated elephants in the future. In the long-term, focusing mitigation management on a larger number of habitual crop-raiders will have more impact and be a more effective approach for elephant managers. This could involve better spatial land-use planning, maintenance of corridors between protected areas, negative conditioning tactics and maintenance and upgrading of barriers. Ce document relatif à la gestion des éléphants rend compte du bilan de la translocation de plusieurs sujets depuis Isiolo jusqu’au parc national de Tsavo Est au Kenya en novembre 2021. L’objectif était de réduire les conflits humains-éléphants dans la zone et d’éviter toute forme de représailles de la part des habitants. Les « éléphants problématiques » ont donc été délocalisés, mais l’ambition initiale de les établir dans Tsavo Est n’a pu être finalisée du fait de la fragmentation du groupe après la remise en liberté et de certains éléments s’étant rapidement déplacés loin du site de lâcher. Deux sujets, que nous avons pu suivre grâce à leur collier GPS, ont montré un comportement instinctif de retour vers leur habitat précédent et tous deux ont quitté le parc national de Tsavo Est dans les sept semaines suivant leur introduction. Si la méthode de la translocation continue d’être privilégiée pour les éléphants problématiques, il sera nécessaire de s’appuyer sur une planification rigoureuse et des données scientifiques solides pour les prochaines opérations, ainsi que sur la mise en place de colliers émetteurs sur chacun des individus. Du personnel formé et un budget substantiel, pour la post-introduction des animaux et les interventions potentielles de réduction des conflits, sont donc les clefs pour une gestion de qualité et pour assurer le bien-être et la bonne santé des éléphants transférés à l’avenir. À long terme, il convient d’accentuer les interventions d’atténuation envers un plus grand nombre d’éléphants habitués à piller les cultures, afin d’avoir un réel impact et une approche plus efficace pour les personnes chargées de leur gestion. Cela peut se traduire par une meilleure planification de l’usage des terres, l’entretien des couloirs biologiques entre les zones protégées, des tactiques de conditionnement négatif et la maintenance ou l’amélioration des barrières.

Poaching has escalated in recent years and is becoming the greatest immediate threat to elephants' survival. There is an urgent need to develop innovative and cost-effective methods for monitoring changes in elephant poaching levels remotely to complement the existing traditional field-based ground surveys. Since elephants are known to respond to anthropogenic risks by alterations in their speed of travel, we quantified this alteration as a ratio of night time speed to the day time speed (night-day speed ratio) and examined its relationship with poaching levels. Our hypothesis here is that poaching is a clear daytime risk, and thus an increase in night time movement rates over those seen during the day will support this hypothesis. Using elephant GPS tracking and mortality data collected in the Laikipia-Samburu ecosystem of northern Kenya between 2002 and 2012, we calculated the mean night-day speed ratio for collared elephants that utilised any of 13 contiguous land units, each under different ownership and management status, and related this ratio to the corresponding poaching levels before and during a poaching surge. Our study shows that the mean night-day speed ratio of both male and female elephants did not vary significantly by month, ruling out possible seasonal effect. However, both male and female elephants moved more at night than during the day where and when poaching levels were high. The relationship between poaching levels and night-day speed ratios was stronger for females than for males. We concluded that the variation in the night-day speed ratio of elephants might be used as an effective indicator for changes poaching levels on a near real-time basis. We recommend its adoption as a complimentary anti-poaching tool, where GPS tracking data is already available, because it would increase the geographical range for monitoring of poaching levels. The significant alteration in movement behaviour by elephants in response to poaching also has potential implications for their foraging strategy, reproduction and ultimate survival, all of which are not yet fully understood.

Jacquet and Delon (2016) criticize our paper "Complementary Benefits of Tourism and Hunting to Communal Conservancies in Namibia" (Naidoo et al. 2015) and argue it is flawed in several respects, to which we respond. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Conservation BiologyVolume 30, Issue 4 p. 912-913 Comment Importance of local values to successful conservation: response to Jacquet and Delon Robin Naidoo, Corresponding Author Robin Naidoo WWF-US, 1250 24th Street NW, Washington, D.C., 20037 U.S.A.email robin.naidoo@wwfus.orgSearch for more papers by this authorL. Chris Weaver, L. Chris Weaver WWF in Namibia, P.O. Box 9681, Windhoek, NamibiaSearch for more papers by this authorRichard W. Diggle, Richard W. Diggle WWF in Namibia, P.O. Box 9681, Windhoek, NamibiaSearch for more papers by this authorGreenwell Matongo, Greenwell Matongo WWF in Namibia, P.O. Box 9681, Windhoek, NamibiaSearch for more papers by this authorGreg Stuart-Hill, Greg Stuart-Hill WWF in Namibia, P.O. Box 9681, Windhoek, NamibiaSearch for more papers by this authorChris Thouless, Chris Thouless WWF in Namibia, P.O. Box 9681, Windhoek, Namibia Current address: Save the Elephants, Marula Manor, Marula Lane, Karen, P.O. Box 54667, Nairobi 00200, KenyaSearch for more papers by this author Robin Naidoo, Corresponding Author Robin Naidoo WWF-US, 1250 24th Street NW, Washington, D.C., 20037 U.S.A.email robin.naidoo@wwfus.orgSearch for more papers by this authorL. Chris Weaver, L. Chris Weaver WWF in Namibia, P.O. Box 9681, Windhoek, NamibiaSearch for more papers by this authorRichard W. Diggle, Richard W. Diggle WWF in Namibia, P.O. Box 9681, Windhoek, NamibiaSearch for more papers by this authorGreenwell Matongo, Greenwell Matongo WWF in Namibia, P.O. Box 9681, Windhoek, NamibiaSearch for more papers by this authorGreg Stuart-Hill, Greg Stuart-Hill WWF in Namibia, P.O. Box 9681, Windhoek, NamibiaSearch for more papers by this authorChris Thouless, Chris Thouless WWF in Namibia, P.O. Box 9681, Windhoek, Namibia Current address: Save the Elephants, Marula Manor, Marula Lane, Karen, P.O. Box 54667, Nairobi 00200, KenyaSearch for more papers by this author First published: 24 April 2016 https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12750Citations: 2 Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article.Citing Literature Volume30, Issue4August 2016Pages 912-913 RelatedInformation

Tourism and hunting both generate substantial revenues for communities and private operators in Africa, but few studies have quantitatively examined the trade-offs and synergies that may result from these two activities. We evaluated financial and in-kind benefit streams from tourism and hunting on 77 communal conservancies in Namibia from 1998 to 2013, where community-based wildlife conservation has been promoted as a land-use that complements traditional subsistence agriculture. We used data collected annually for all communal conservancies to characterize whether benefits were derived from hunting or tourism. We classified these benefits into 3 broad classes and examined how benefits flowed to stakeholders within communities under the status quo and under a simulated ban on hunting. Across all conservancies, total benefits from hunting and tourism increased at roughly the same rate, although conservancies typically started generating benefits from hunting within 3 years of formation as opposed to after 6 years for tourism. Disaggregation of data revealed that the main benefits from hunting were income for conservancy management and food in the form of meat for the community at large. The majority of tourism benefits were salaried jobs at lodges. A simulated ban on trophy hunting significantly reduced the number of conservancies that could cover their operating costs, whereas eliminating income from tourism did not have as severe an effect. Given that the benefits generated from hunting and tourism typically begin at different times in a conservancy's life-span (earlier vs. later, respectively) and flow to different segments of local communities, these 2 activities together may provide the greatest incentives for conservation on communal lands in Namibia. A singular focus on either hunting or tourism would reduce the value of wildlife as a competitive land-use option and have grave repercussions for the viability of community-based conservation efforts in Namibia, and possibly other parts of Africa.

The rate at which the poaching of rhinoceroses has escalated since 2010 poses a threat to the long-term persistence of extant rhinoceros populations. The policy response has primarily called for increased investment in military-style enforcement strategies largely based upon simple economic models of rational crime. However, effective solutions will probably require a context-specific, stakeholder-driven mix of top-down and bottom-up mechanisms grounded in theory that represents human behaviour more realistically. Using a problem-oriented approach we illustrate in theory and practice how community-based strategies that explicitly incorporate local values and institutions are a foundation for combating rhinoceros poaching effectively in specific contexts. A case study from Namibia demonstrates how coupling a locally devised rhinoceros monitoring regime with joint-venture tourism partnerships as a legitimate land use can reconcile individual values represented within a diverse stakeholder group and manifests as both formal and informal community enforcement. We suggest a social learning approach as a means by which international, national and regional governance can recognize and promote solutions that may help empower local communities to implement rhinoceros management strategies that align individual values with the long-term health of rhinoceros populations.

An abstract is not available for this content. As you have access to this content, full HTML content is provided on this page. A PDF of this content is also available in through the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

This paper presents an analysis of changes in elephant population estimates selected from the two most recent reports of the African Elephant Database (AED). Sites selected for analysis were restricted to surveyed areas in which successive estimates had been made using comparable methods. The resulting selection consisted of surveys conducted in eastern and southern Africa between 1994 and 2002, which together cover a large percentage of the total elephant population for which estimates are available in these two regions. The results suggest a significant overall increase (p < 0.0002) for the eastern and southern African sites combined. The overall increase in the southern African estimate was significant ( p < 0.0004), but the increase in eastern African estimates was not statistically significant. It is concluded that savanna elephant populations in eastern and southern Africa are more likely to have increased than to have declined in the years leading up to the African Elephant Status Report 2002 ; important caveats become evident, however, when interpreting these findings.

A previous estimate of the lion (Panthera leo) population in the southwestern Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (KTP) was made over 20 years ago. This together with increased fears regarding the viability of the population as a result of recent killings of roaming animals, an observed increase in non-violent mortalities during 1996, and possible reduced genetic viability due to suspected isolation, prompted another investigation. Between October 1996 and December 1996, 68 lions were captured and marked and subjected to two recapture (resighting) samples. The minimum estimate derived from direct enumeration of marked and unmarked individuals is between 100-103 individuals. Assessment of the adult and subadult population using the Lincoln-Petersen estimator and the software program NOREMARK gives a figure between 92 and 125. The current estimate is below the previous estimate of between 113 and 140 lions. Lion densities of 1.2 adult and subadult lions/100 km(2) in the semi-arid southern Kalahari are considerably lower than those in more mesic regions. Furthermore there appears to be some demographic variability with the ratio of females to males being twice as high as that recorded 20 years ago.

Intensive study 1990-1992 and continued monitoring of 'migrant animals' over the next 5 years found elephants of Kenya's northern Laikipia and Samburu Districts utilize numerous habitats and have widely variable home ranges - from 150 sq kms to over 5000 sq kms. Elephants resident in the private ranches of Laikipia are believed to have moved south from Samburu during 1970s and 1980s in response to intensive poaching. It was anticipated a decrease in poaching would cause elephant to spend more time in the northern part of their range thus reducing pressure on vegetation and farms in the south, but monitoring showed no consistent northward shift of ranges during 1993-1997. However, monitoring of animals from differing subpopulations illustrates ranges of some individual matrilines have changed substantially during this time, possiblity due to increasing levels of human disturbance. There is much more overlap between different groupings and more variability within subpopulations than previously suspected.