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Studying Elephantselephants Edited by Kadzo Kangwana Awf Technical Handbook Series 7 STUDYINGSTUDYING ELEPHANTSELEPHANTS EDITED BY KADZO KANGWANA AWF TECHNICAL HANDBOOK SERIES 7 African Wildlife Foundation The origination and production of “Studying Elephants” was made possible through funding from the European Union, through the African Elephant Conservation Coordinating Group. Additional funds were provided by the African Wildlife Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors alone and do not imply any opinions whatsoever on the part of the European Union. The African Wildlife Foundation is fully responsible for the contents of this book and any omissions or errors are not the responsibility of the European Union. Edited by Kadzo Kangwana African Wildlife Foundation Nairobi, Kenya © Copyright AFRICAN WILDLIFE FOUNDATION First Published 1996 ISBN: 9966-9915-0-6 Cover Photo by Cynthia Moss: Amboseli elephants, Loxodonta africana, Amboseli National Park, Kenya. Graphic design by Jacaranda Designs Limited P.O. Box 76691, Nairobi, Kenya. Reproduction of this publication for educational or other non-commercial purposes is authorised without prior written permission from the copyright holder provided the source is fully acknowledged. Reproduction of this publication for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without prior written permission of the copyright holder. Typeset in Palatino, Times and Lithos Bold. Printed in Kenya. Published by the AFRICAN WILDLIFE FOUNDATION, Nairobi, Kenya. STUDYING ELEPHANTS Edited by KADZO KANGWANA African Wildlife Foundation Nairobi, Kenya THE AFRICAN WILDLIFE FOUNDATION The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), established in 1961, works towards building the capacity of African individuals and institutions to manage their natural resources effectively. AWF follows this mission in order to increase the sustainable contribution of natural resources to local and national economies, and to promote the sound protection and management of these resources by Africa’s own peoples. AWF helps build capacity in natural resource management through programme activities in protected area management, environmental awareness, policy development and implementation, conservation science, support for species and habitats of prime ecological significance, and community-based approaches to conservation. AWF’s current portfolio includes four distinct and complementary programme areas, ranging from the traditional to the innovative. These programmes are: * Species and Ecosystem Conservation * Community Conservation *Training, Institutional Development and Education * Commerce and Conservation For further information about the African Wildlife Foundation and its current projects please write to AWF at: P.O. Box 48177, Nairobi, Kenya or 1717 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington DC 20036, USA THE AWF SERIES OF HANDBOOKS ON TECHNIQUES IN AFRICAN WILDLIFE ECOLOGY 1. Counting Animals. M. Norton-Griffiths. 1978. 2. Measuring the Distribution of Animals in Relation to the Environment. D. Western and J. J. R. Grimsdell. 1979. 3. Studying Predators. B. C. R. Bertram. 1979. 4. Ecological Monitoring. J. J. R. Grimsdell. 1978. 5. Population Dynamics of Large Mammals. A. R. E. Sinclair and J. J. R. Grimsdell. 1982. 6. Counting Birds. D. Pomeroy. 1992. 7. Studying Elephants. Editor K. Kangwana. 1996. If you would like to order a copy of any of the handbooks, please write to: African Wildlife Foundation, P.O. Box 48177 Nairobi, Kenya Tel: (254-2)710367 Fax: 710372 CONTENTS Acknowledgement ............................................................................................................... i List of Contributor ............................................................................................................... ii Introduction ......................................................................................................................... iii Chapter 1. The African Elephant Joyce Poole .......................................................................................................................... 1 SECTION 1: ELEPHANT MANAGEMENT Chapter 2. Making Management Decisions from Data Holly Dublin & Russell Taylor ........................................................................................... 10 SECTION 2: COUNTING ELEPHANTS Chapter 3. Counting Elephants from the Air - Sample Counts Susan Mbugua ..................................................................................................................... 21 Chapter 4. Counting Elephants from the Air - Total Counts lain Douglas-Hamilton ........................................................................................................ 28 Chapter 5. Estimating Forest Elephant Abundance by Dung Counts Richard Barnes .................................................................................................................... 38 Chapter 6. Direct Counts of Elephants from the Ground Hugo Jachmann ...................................................................................................................49 SECTION 3: STUDYING POPULATIONS Chapter 7. Getting to know a Population Cynthia Moss....................................................................................................................... 58 Chapter 8. Studying Elephant Movements hn Whyte ............................................................................................................................. 75 Chapter 9. Studying Elephant – Habitat Interactions Keith Lindsay ...................................................................................................................... 90 Chapter 10. Studying the Behaviour of Elephants Phyllis Lee ........................................................................................................................... 98 SECTION 4: DEVELOPING RESEARCH TECHNIQUES Chapter 11. Studying Vocal Communication in Elephants Karen McComb ................................................................................................................... 112 Chapter 12. Satellite Tracking of Elephants Chris Thouless ..................................................................................................................... 120 Chapter 13. Studying the Reproductive Physiology of Elephants Hamisi Mutinda ................................................................................................................... 126 Chapter 14. What We Can Learn from Tusks Nioroge Ngure ..................................................................................................................... 130 SECTION 5: ELEPHANTS IN THEIR HUMAN CONTEXT Chapter 15. Assessing the Impact of Human-Elephant Interactions Kadzo Kangwana ................................................................................................................ 138 Chapter 16. Monitoring Law Enforcement and Illegal Activities Nigel Leader-Williams ........................................................................................................ 148 SECTION 6: HANDLING ELEPHANTS Chapter 17. How to Immobilise Elephants Chris Thouless ..................................................................................................................... 164 Chapter 18. Collecting Data from Dead Elephants Ian Whyte ............................................................................................................................ 171 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The production of this book has been made possible by a grant from the European Union, administered by the African Elephant Conservation Coordinating Group through the Environment and Development Group (EDG), and supplementary funds from the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) and the AWF/PARCS project. Early concepts for the book benefitted from the input of Ruth Chunge, Steve Cobb, lain Douglas-Hamilton, Holly Dublin, Deborah Snelson and Mark Stanley Price. Very special thanks are due to all authors for agreeing to contribute to the book and donating their time by accepting minimal fees for writing chapters. Several authors contributed further by reviewing chapters, and for this AWF is grateful. AWF is also grateful to Deborah Ross for donating the illustrations for Chapter 7. Special thanks are due to Deborah Snelson for proof-reading all the chapters, and to Chryssee Perry Martin and Cynthia Moss for copy editing the book. AWF is grateful to the Endangered Wildlife Trust for organising the translation of “Studying Elephants” into Portuguese, and to Ursula Taube for translating the book into French. For support throughout this project, thanks are due to AWF staff both in Washington and Nairobi, and to staff of the Environment and Development Group whose contributions have been many. Without them “Studying Elephants” would not have become a reality. i CONTRIBUTORS Richard Barnes Department of Biology 0116, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla CA 92093-0116, U.S.A. lain Douglas-Hamilton P.O. Box 54667, Nairobi, Kenya. Holly T. Dublin WWF Regional Office Eastern Africa, P.O Box 62440, Nairobi, Kenya. Nicholas Georgiadis Mpala Ranch P.O. Box 92, Nanyuki, Kenya. Hugo Jachmann Luangwa Intergrated Resource Development Project, P.O. Box 510249, Chipata, Zambia. Kadzo Kangwana African Wildlife Foundation, P.O. Box 48177, Nairobi, Kenya. Nigel Leader-Williams Planning and Assessment for Wildlife Management, Department of Wildlife, P.O. Box 63150, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Phyllis C. Lee University of Cambridge, Department of Biological Anthropology, Downing Street, Cambridge, U.K Keith Lindsay Environment and Development Group,
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