Loxodonta africana: Responses to a Warming Climate

Abstract

The African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) may be affected by global-scale climatic changes. Elephants could struggle with rising temperatures because as Pachyderms, elephants are not able to sweat. As temperatures in Africa continue to rise, and drought grips vast regions of the continent, elephants may be struggling to stay cool and, ultimately, survive because of this inability. They have limited heat transfer mechanisms and a small surface area to volume ratio. Without the ability to perspire, elephants rely heavily on water sources as an alternative for cooling but ongoing drought is limiting this. One effective method of thermoregulation that costs minimum energy but is also of huge benefit is seeking shade. This study uses an integrated approach to gain an understanding of how elephants thermoregulate and how this may affect their behaviour and use of the landscape. This research is the first of its kind as past literature has segregated behavioural and landscape use. This study used behavioural observations, short and long-term weather recordings and in-depth Global Positioning Device (GPS) analysis to answer the questions: “Are elephants vulnerable to climate change, and are they changing their behaviour in ways that impact sensitive ecosystems?” I recorded the thermoregulatory behaviour of elephants coinciding with the weather conditions in Tembe Elephant Park, South Africa and analysed the observations using Generalised Linear Mixed Models to find how weather conditions affected their behaviour and use of water sources. I then used 5 years of GPS collar data to map an elephant cows movement between and within years and track changes in habitat occupancy. The data were aligned with the weather conditions of the research area to identify any relationships between temperature or relative humidity and occupation of these vegetation types. The key findings show that elephants will seek water sources and shade under higher temperatures and that flapping their ears serves a purpose other than behavioural thermoregulation. Furthermore, the results from the GPS study indicate that elephant herd movements are seasonal and that elephants seek sand forests somewhat when the temperature outside the forests is high, but also in winter when the ambient temperature is low which suggests they use canopied forests to warm up and cool down. This study shows that climate change could be causing a shift in how elephants use their landscape. These results have important implications for the management of elephants in fenced game reserves because when kept in a fenced game reserve, elephants must be managed to conserve ecosystems. Under conditions of climate change, elephants may need more water and/or more shade, but need to be discouraged from using the favourable shade found in sand forest. As the impacts of elephants on ecosystems could become more pronounced as the temperature increases, further research is necessary. Expanding the period, number and gender of the research subjects is an important step towards validating this study. Show more