Elephants are not covenant when it comes to walking great distances every day, and they seem to have a talent for planning for their difficult trips. A new study puts the ingenuity of these displayed mammals, which shows how strategically chooses certain ways to make their trips as effective as possible.
the TicketPublished in Animal Environment MagazineMany of the main results that show how African savanna envelopes move through the difficult landscape. Being the largest Megaherbivores on Earth, these animals need to eat piles of low -calorie vegetation to stay active, however their amazing size makes navigation around a material ordeal. To save energy, elephants deliberately transmit through certain landscapes based on terrain, vegetable and water.
Read more: The elephant’s fear of bees may help save them and local farmers
Follow the migration of the elephant
In the new study, the researchers used GPS data from 157 African elephants in northern Kenya. The researchers analyzed the data – collected over the 22 years (from 1998 to 2020) – with a modeling method called ENERSCAPE, which is estimated at the cost of movement in earthly animals with body mass -based legs and terrain tendency.
The researchers have paired satellite data on the productivity of vegetation and water availability, and with this information, they were able to put energy landscapes that teach them on the ways that elephants tend to move.
Then follow a process known as the linear selection functions to determine how environmental factors affect the elephant movement, and compare the sites visited by the elephants that were visited with other nearby areas they did not choose.
What do elephants plan?
The height is an important factor in elephants’ preferences, but movement costs are often linked to the inclination of terrain. The new study found that 94 percent of the elephants represented by data avoid areas with sharp slopes and rough terrain, indicating that the ways that will provide them with energy.
“Although more detailed research is needed to fully understand how the elephant uses its hail, this study determines the central decisions of the elephants travel: Save energy whenever possible,” said co -author Fritz Fulith from Oxford University in A. statement.
Whether the area has ease of access to food or not also plays a role in elephant movement; 93 percent of elephants prefer areas with high vegetable cover.
The researchers faced a different result with the availability of water, and found that only 41 percent of the elephants prefer areas close to the water. Researchers note that elephants’ preference for water availability may change based on additional considerations such as height and human presence near water sources. The fact that the elephants do not always travel to the nearest river or pool that adds a layer of complexity to decision -making capabilities.
The elephant movement speed also affects the possibility of avoiding areas that are difficult to move and waste a lot of energy. When moving slowly, 74 percent of individuals avoid actively expensive areas, this rose to 86 percent at intermediate speeds and then to 93 percent at fast speeds.
Support to maintain elephants
The researchers say that the information collected from the study will be a guide to create more effective measures to preserve elephants. Knowing how to choose elephants that choose to move can help conservative specialists when designing protected areas Migration corridors For animals. The study can also be used to model how to adjust elephants by climate change, which will affect environmental conditions such as food and water.
The next step for researchers is to assess other factors that have not been widely covered, including seasonal changes, human disorders and climate change effects.
Read more: Human activities affect the use of elephants for natural reserves
condition sources
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Jack Knudson is an auxiliary editor in Discover with strong interest in science and environmental history. Before joining Discover in 2023, he studied journalism at Scripps Communications College at Ohio University and previously trained in Recycling Toy