Sri Lankan elephant communities fragmented as population decline accelerated

A 12-year study of female Asian elephants in Sri Lanka found that their social communities fractured as losses outpaced newcomers. The findings suggest that elephant societies can be resilient to individual deaths, but may not withstand sustained population decline.

Researchers tracked 443 adult and subadult females in Udawalawe National Park from 2007 to 2018, identifying them by their ears and recording how often they were seen together. Around 2012, deaths and departures began to exceed arrivals; by 2018, about 69 per cent of females recorded at the study’s start were gone. The researchers link the decline in newcomers and calf survival to shrinking food supplies as invasive plants spread across former grassland.