Our map designed to save elephant and human lives
A major step forward in reducing human-elephant conflict.
We’ve made significant progress in an ambitious project aimed at reducing damaging interactions between humans and elephants.
Each year, more than 500 people and 60-100 elephants lose their lives due to human-wildlife conflict in India. Our team of conservation researchers has developed a map that predicts where future conflicts might occur, based on historical incidents.
This map is an essential tool for helping conservationists on the ground, enabling them to focus their limited resources on areas where these deadly events are most likely to happen.
The first phase of the project has been outlined in a paper recently published in the Global Ecology and Conservation journal.
This paper was coauthored by Alexandra Zimmermann from the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit at Oxford, alongside our very own Chester Zoo scientists Jacqui Morrison, Mayukh Chatterjee, Sue Walker and Scott Wilson, and K. Ramkumar and Sandeep Tiwari of the Wildlife Trust of India.
Elephants are intelligent and charismatic animals, but their habitat has shrunk to just seven percent of their historic range. For elephants, a field of crops is a highly nutritious food source. However, for subsistence farmers, an elephant foraging on crops can pose a serious threat to their livelihoods.
Jacqui Morrison, our Senior Conservation Scientist in Population Biology
The publication brings together data from 15 variables, including human population density, proximity to protected areas, and climate conditions. This data forms the foundation of the first phase of our mapping project.
In this first phase, we used ten different algorithms to analyse historical data from nearly 2,000 human-elephant incidents. This allowed us to create a reliable way to predict where future conflicts might happen.
The next phase of the project is already underway. We’ve surveyed more than 1,000 people across a 2,000 km² area in Kerala, gathering data on public attitudes towards elephants. These surveys were carried out by trained social scientists from the Wildlife Trust of India.
The results have been analysed and incorporated into our map, and we expect to submit Phase Two for publication soon.
Traditional hotspot maps that rely solely on damage reports often ignore critical factors, such as climate change, ecological conditions, and most importantly, public attitudes towards elephants.
Intolerance is a primary driver of conflict. There may be regions where regular crop foraging events are tolerated. In contrast, there may be regions where encounters with elephants are rare, but are met with much greater intolerance. There's a disconnect between damage and retaliation.
Mayukh Chatterjee, our Regional Field Programme Senior Manager for Mainland Asia
While this project is currently focused on Kerala and Asian elephants, we see great potential to adapt the approach to other regions and species. Our aim is to enable conservationists to implement targeted mitigation strategies in hotspots worldwide.
At Chester Zoo, we’re already supporting initiatives to reduce human-wildlife conflict in India. In Terai, we’ve trained volunteers to act as first responders to big cat incidents, helping to de-escalate interactions before they can turn violent. In Assam, we support ‘haathi watchers’ who help monitor elephants, and our conservation team recently helped organise a community fence-building project to protect crops from elephants.
Through our Wild Scouts project, we’re also working with young people to foster a better understanding of elephants and tigers, promoting peaceful coexistence.
