The use of audio playback to deter crop‐raiding Asian elephants

Human-elephant conflict (HEC) and poaching are the foremost threats to the survival of elephants (African, Loxodonta africana; Asian, Elephas maximus) in their natural environments. Reducing HEC has the potential to save hundreds of elephant and human lives annually across Asia and Africa. Lone adult male elephants are the principal crop raiders; therefore, we investigated the effectiveness of a variety of audio playbacks at deterring 22 wild adult male Asian elephants from food sources in a wildlife reserve in southern Sri Lanka in January, 2011. Food was provided ad libitum, and the reactions of the elephants in response to various stimuli were recorded and analyzed. Vocalizations from a wild Asian elephant matriarchal group resulted in a flight response in 65% of trials conducted, in contrast to a control sound, a chainsaw, which produced no flight responses from any adult male. We demonstrated that audio playbacks could be used as a short-term deterrent to wild adult male Asian elephants from crop raiding; thus, providing a simple, natural, cost-effective, and humane way of mitigating HEC. (C) 2016 The Wildlife Society.