African Elephants Strategically Plan Journeys to Conserve Energy, New Study Reveals

A recent study published in the Journal of Animal Ecology reveals that African elephants possess an extraordinary ability to efficiently manage their energy expenditure while meeting their vast food requirements. Researchers from the University of Oxford, the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), and Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena analyzed GPS tracking data from 157 elephants over 22 years in Northern Kenya. The study found that elephants plan their journeys based on energy costs and resource availability, similar to birds using thermal uplifts to reduce flight energy. By using an innovative modeling method called ENERSCAPE, researchers estimated the energy costs of movement based on body mass and terrain slope. The findings could help guide the design of protected areas and migration corridors to reduce conflict with humans and predict how elephant movements may respond to climate change.