African Elephants Plan Their Journeys to Conserve Energy.
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Please see the six articles below about how African Elephants Plan their
journeys to conserve energy.
Two wild elephants relocated from
Phys Org
March 26, 2025
A new study has revealed that African elephants have an extraordinary
ability to meet their colossal food requirements as efficiently as
possible. Data from over 150 elephants demonstrated that these giants plan
their journeys based on energy costs and resource availability.
The findings, published in the Journal of Animal Ecology, could provide
crucial information to help protect these iconic animals and their habitats.
Being an elephant is no easy task. As massive herbivores weighing several
tons, they must consume vast amounts of low-calorie vegetation every day.
However, their sheer size means that moving around to find food costs
significant physical effort. Literally every step matters—especially in the
vast, often harsh landscapes they traverse.
Understanding how elephants move through the landscape is essential for
designing effective conservation strategies, particularly as habitat
fragmentation and human activities continue to threaten populations. But up
to now, the key drivers behind elephant movements have been unclear.
The new study, led by researchers from the University of Oxford, the German
Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), and
Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, used GPS tracking data from 157 African
elephants collected over a 22-year period (1998–2020) in Northern Kenya.
Data were collected by Save the Elephants, a UK-registered, Kenya-based
research and conservation charity.
Key findings:
- Elephants strongly prefer landscapes with lower movement costs, with
94% of the elephants studied avoiding steep slopes and rough terrain. This
suggests they are aware of their surroundings and make cost-benefit
decisions to choose the most energy-efficient paths. - Elephants actively select areas with higher vegetation productivity,
with 93% indicating a preference for resource-rich environments. - Water sources play a role in where elephants choose to go, but
individual elephants can respond differently. Some remain close to water
sources, while others roam farther, showing that their movement choices are
more complex than traveling to the nearest river or pond. - Elephants moving at speed show an even stronger avoidance of
difficult, more energetically-costly terrain. 74% of individuals avoided
costly areas when moving slowly, which increased to 87% when moving at
intermediate speeds and to 93% when moving fast. This suggests the animals
carefully balance effort and energy efficiency, especially during long
journeys.
According to the researchers, the elephants' behavior is comparable to
birds appearing to deliberately use favorable thermal uplifts to reduce the
energetic costs of flying.
To analyze the elephant tracking data, the research team employed an
innovative modeling method called ENERSCAPE, which estimates the energy
costs of movement based on body mass and terrain slope. By integrating
these estimates with satellite data on vegetation productivity and water
availability, they built detailed energy landscapes that help explain
elephants' movement decisions.
A statistical approach called step-selection functions was used to assess
how the elephants chose their paths. This technique compares the locations
that elephants actually visited with other nearby areas they could have
chosen but did not. By doing so, the researchers identified which
environmental factors play a role in elephants' movement decisions and
habitat selection.
These findings have direct applications for wildlife conservation, and
could help guide the design of protected areas and migration corridors to
reduce conflict with humans. The study also suggests that conservation
strategies should account for individual differences in habitat
preferences, particularly concerning water access.
The results could also help predict how elephant movements may respond to
climate change, which affects both the energy costs of moving, and the
availability of food and water.
In the future, the researchers aim to refine energy landscape models by
incorporating additional factors such as seasonal changes, human
disturbances, and the impact of climate change on elephant movements.
Co-author Professor Fritz Vollrath (University of Oxford) said, "While more
detailed research is needed to fully understand how an elephant uses its
habitat, this study identifies a central decision-making factor for
traveling elephants: save energy whenever possible."
Lead researcher Dr. Emilio Berti (German Center for Integrative
Biodiversity Research and Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena) added, "These
new results have important implications for assessing and planning
conservation and restoration measures, such as dispersal corridors, by
explicitly accounting for the energy costs of moving."
https://phys.org/news/2025-03-elephants-journeys-reveals-energy-strategies.html
How elephants plan their journeys
University Jena
March 26, 2025
A new study has revealed that African Elephants have an extraordinary
ability to meet their colossal food requirements as efficiently as
possible. Data from over 150 elephants demonstrated that these giants plan
their journeys based on energy costs and resource availability. The
findings – published in the “Journal of Animal Ecology” – could provide
crucial information to help protect these animals and their habitats.
Being an elephant is no easy task. As massive herbivores weighing several
tons, they must consume vast amounts of low-calorie vegetation every day.
However, their sheer size means that moving around to find food costs
significant physical effort. Literally every step matters — especially in
the vast, often harsh landscapes they traverse.
Understanding how elephants move through the landscape is essential for
designing effective conservation strategies, particularly as habitat
fragmentation and human activities continue to threaten populations. But up
to now, key drivers behind elephant movements have been unclear.
The new study, led by researchers from the Universities of Jena and Oxford
and the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), used
GPS tracking data from 157 African elephants collected over a 22-year
period (1998–2020) in Northern Kenya. Data were collected by “Save the
Elephants”, a UK-registered, Kenya-based research and conservation charity.
Save energy whenever possible
The researcher’s analysis showed that elephants strongly prefer landscapes
with lower movement costs, with 94 % of the elephants studied avoiding
steep slopes and rough terrain. This suggests they are aware of their
surroundings and make cost-benefit decisions to choose the most
energy-efficient paths.
Elephants also actively select areas with higher vegetation productivity,
with 93 % indicating a preference for resource-rich environments, including
water. However, individual elephants can respond differently when it comes
to water sources. Some remain close to water sources, while others roam
farther, showing that their movement choices are more complex than
travelling to the nearest river or pond.
Beyond this, elephants moving at speed show an even stronger avoidance of
difficult, more energetically-costly terrain. 74 % of individuals avoided
costly areas when moving slowly, which increased to 87 % when moving at
intermediate speeds and to 93 % when moving fast. This suggests the animals
carefully balance effort and energy efficiency, especially during long
journeys.
“While more detailed research is needed to fully understand how an
elephant uses its habitat, this study identifies a central decision-making
factor for travelling elephants: save energy whenever possible”, co-author
Professor Fritz Vollrath of the University of Oxford explains.
Analysing the energy costs of elephants’ movements
To analyse the elephant tracking data the research team employed an
innovative modelling method called ENERSCAPE, which estimates the energy
costs of movement based on body mass and terrain slope. By integrating
these estimates with satellite data on vegetation productivity and water
availability, they built detailed energy landscapes that help explain
elephants' movement decisions.
A statistical approach called step-selection functions was used to assess
how the elephants chose their paths. This technique compares the locations
that elephants actually visited with other nearby areas they could have
chosen but did not. By doing so, the researchers identified which
environmental factors play a role in elephants’ movement decisions and
habitat selection.
These findings have direct applications for wildlife conservation, and
could help guide the design of protected areas and migration corridors to
reduce conflict with humans. The study also suggests that conservation
strategies should account for individual differences in habitat
preferences, particularly concerning water access.
The results could also help predict how elephant movements may respond to
climate change, which affects both the energy costs of moving, and the
availability of food and water.
“These new results have important implications for assessing and planning
conservation and restoration measures, such as dispersal corridors, by
explicitly accounting for the energy costs of moving”, adds first author Dr
Emilio Berti, researcher at both the Friedrich Schiller University Jena and
iDiv.
In the future, the researchers aim to refine energy landscape models by
incorporating additional factors such as seasonal changes, human
disturbances, and the impact of climate change on elephant movements.
https://www.uni-jena.de/en/305987/how-elephants-plan-their-journeys
Elephants choose their paths carefully to conserve energy
Sanja Gajbhiye, Earth.Com
March 27, 2025
In the vast savannas of Africa, elephant herds roam with a quiet grace that
often hides the complexity behind their movements. From a distance, it may
look like these giants simply wander in search of food and water. But new
research reveals a different story – one of calculation, strategy, and
energy balance.
African elephants, it turns out, don’t just walk aimlessly. They think
before they move.
A recent study published in the Journal of Animal Ecology shows that
elephants are highly efficient in how they meet their immense daily energy
needs. The research brings together over two decades of data from 157
elephants in Northern Kenya.
With advanced tracking and modeling tools, scientists have uncovered how
elephants choose their paths based on terrain, food availability, and
energy cost. The insights have far-reaching implications for conservation,
especially in the face of habitat loss and climate change.
Elephants save energy to survive
Being an elephant comes with some heavy burdens – literally. These massive
herbivores, often weighing several tons, need to consume huge amounts of
low-calorie vegetation every single day.
Their enormous size gives them strength, but it also demands constant
refueling. Unlike predators that hunt calorie-dense prey, elephants must
spend most of their day eating just to keep up.
But eating isn’t the only task that burns energy. Finding food in harsh,
fragmented landscapes means walking long distances. Each step taken across
uneven ground, up steep hills, or through dry plains carries a cost.
For elephants, movement isn’t just a means of travel – it’s a calculation.
The right decision can save hours of energy; the wrong one can drain their
reserves.
That’s why understanding how elephants navigate their environment matters.
Knowing the logic behind their paths helps scientists protect their
habitats better and ensure that conservation strategies match their
real-world needs.
Tracking elephants for 22 years
To uncover the patterns behind elephant movement, researchers from the
University of Oxford, the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity
Research (iDiv), and Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena worked with Save
the Elephants, a UK-registered charity based in Kenya.
Over 22 years – from 1998 to 2020 – they collected GPS data from 157
elephants moving across Northern Kenya.
This dataset provided a rare and rich look at how elephants respond to
their environment. The patterns were clear. Most elephants consistently
avoided areas that would require too much effort to cross.
Rough terrain and steep slopes saw far fewer elephant visits. Instead,
elephants selected flatter, smoother paths – even if those routes were
longer. Energy saved, not distance shortened, seemed to be the deciding
factor.
The study showed that 94% of the elephants avoided high-cost terrain. These
weren’t random decisions. Elephants appeared to actively weigh their
options and pick the path that required the least energy, a strategy that
may be essential for survival in unpredictable landscapes.
Food and water choices
Terrain wasn’t the only factor in elephant decision-making. Vegetation
quality also played a big role. Around 93% of elephants showed a preference
for areas rich in plant productivity.
These areas offered more reward for less walking – ideal for large
herbivores who need to eat for hours each day. The link between green areas
and elephant movement was strong and consistent across seasons.
Water, too, influenced their choices, but not in the way one might expect.
Some elephants stayed close to rivers or waterholes. Others traveled far
and wide. The researchers found that while water access is important,
elephants make complex individual choices about how much they prioritize it.
This adds another layer of complexity to elephant behavior and shows that
conservation plans need to leave room for variation among individuals.
Speed and strategy of elephants
The study also uncovered a surprising detail: elephants are even more
selective about terrain when moving at higher speeds. When walking slowly,
74% of elephants avoided difficult landscapes.
But when moving at intermediate or fast speeds, those numbers climbed to
87% and 93% respectively. That means the faster they go, the more carefully
they choose their route.
This strategy mirrors what scientists have seen in other species. Just like
birds that ride thermal uplifts to glide with less effort, elephants appear
to make conscious choices to preserve energy. These choices are not just
about immediate survival.
They shape long-term success, reproduction, and herd stability.
New tools to understand old trails
To analyze the movement data, the researchers used a modeling method called
ENERSCAPE. This system estimates how much energy it takes for an elephant
to move across various types of terrain, based on the animal’s body mass
and the slope of the land.
When combined with satellite data on vegetation and water, the tool creates
a detailed picture of the “energy landscape” each elephant navigates.
They also used step-selection functions, a statistical method that compares
the places elephants actually visited with nearby places they could have
visited but didn’t. By examining these choices, the researchers identified
which environmental factors shaped elephant routes most.
This approach revealed more than just preference – it showed
decision-making. Elephants don’t walk randomly. They make careful,
context-aware choices that reflect an understanding of effort, reward, and
terrain.
Following elephant energy logic
These findings aren’t just academic. They could change how conservation
areas and migration corridors are planned.
Many protected zones are created based on where elephants are seen most
often. But this new research suggests that energy cost must be a key factor
in design. A path that looks good on paper may be too steep or rugged for
real elephant use.
Planning must also consider individual differences. Some elephants prefer
staying near water. Others roam far. A rigid conservation plan that doesn’t
account for these preferences may fall short. Flexibility and
energy-efficiency need to be built into every project aimed at protecting
these animals.
Climate, disturbance, and change
The environment is changing fast. As temperatures rise and rainfall
patterns shift, food and water availability will also change.
That could force elephants to alter their routes, raising the risk of
human-elephant conflict. The study’s authors believe their work can help
predict how elephants might respond to these changes – and guide
conservation efforts accordingly.
Future work will improve the ENERSCAPE model by adding seasonal data, human
activity maps, and climate projections. These enhancements will give a
fuller picture of how elephant behavior adapts to a world in flux.
Elephants save energy whenever possible
“While more detailed research is needed to fully understand how an elephant
uses its habitat, this study identifies a central decision-making factor
for travelling elephants: save energy whenever possible,” noted co-author
Professor Fritz Vollrath from the University of Oxford.
“These new results have important implications for assessing and planning
conservation and restoration measures, such as dispersal corridors, by
explicitly accounting for the energy costs of moving,” added lead
researcher Dr. Emilio Berti from the German Centre for Integrative
Biodiversity Research and Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
Elephants, long admired for their memory and strength, now reveal another
layer of intelligence – how they move with intention. In learning to think
like elephants, we may find better ways to protect them.
https://www.earth.com/news/elephants-choose-their-paths-carefully-to-conserve-energy/
22-year study reveals 94% of elephants avoid steep terrain to save energy
Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering
March 26, 2025
African elephants are the largest living land animals and need to eat
hundreds of pounds of food every day. They are herbivores, consuming large
quantities of vegetation.
A new study has answered the puzzle of how these enormous animals thrive in
harsh landscapes. It turns out, these magnificent creatures have an
extraordinary ability to minimize energy expenditure.
Researchers from the University of Oxford, the German Centre for
Integrative Biodiversity Research, and Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena,
in collaboration with Save the Elephants, tracked 157 elephants in Northern
Kenya over 22 years.
It was revealed that elephants strategically plan movements considering
energy expenditure and resource availability.
“These new results have important implications for assessing and planning
conservation and restoration measures, such as dispersal corridors, by
explicitly accounting for the energy costs of moving,” said Emilio Berti,
the lead researcher.
94% avoided steep slopes
The life of an elephant is demanding due to their huge size. African
elephants (Loxodonta africana) consume large amounts of vegetation daily to
meet their dietary needs.
Being so big means, it takes a lot of energy for them to move around
looking for food.
Effective elephant conservation requires understanding their movement
patterns, which are increasingly threatened by habitat loss and human
activities. Currently, the African Elephant is listed as “vulnerable” on
the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Using GPS data, the team analyzed how these elephants navigated their
environment.
Elephants seem to know where they are and choose the easiest paths to save
energy.
Interestingly, 94% of the elephants avoided steep slopes and rough terrain,
demonstrating a clear preference for energy-efficient paths. Moreover,
elephants looked for areas with plentiful vegetation, indicating a 93%
preference for productive environments.
Water sources affect elephant movement, but individual elephants exhibit
diverse behaviors, with some staying near water and others roaming.
Remarkably, the faster they moved, the stronger their avoidance of
difficult terrain became. The avoidance increased from 74% at slow speeds
to 93% at fast speeds.
Researchers suggest that elephants’ energy-saving behavior is similar to
how birds use thermal uplifts to reduce the energy needed for flight.
Findings to help conservation efforts
The study used ENERSCAPE, a new modeling method, for the analysis of the
elephant tracking data.
The model calculates the energy costs of elephant movement, incorporating
body mass, terrain, vegetation, and water data to create energy landscapes
that explain elephant movement choices.
To understand how elephants select their paths, researchers employed
step-selection functions, a statistical method. It compares actual elephant
locations with potential alternative locations to identify the
environmental factors that determine their movement decisions and habitat
selection.
The study’s findings could aid conservation by designing protected areas
and migration corridors, reducing human-wildlife conflict. It also
highlights the need to consider individual elephant preferences, especially
concerning water access.
Moreover, the findings can be used to forecast how climate change will
influence elephant movement patterns by altering energy costs and resource
availability.
https://interestingengineering.com/science/elephants-avoid-steep-terrain-to-save-energy?group=test_a
Elephants avoid wasting energy during their epic journeys
Laura Baisas, Popular Science
March 26, 2025
For African elephants, currently the largest land animals walking the
Earth, finding food efficiently is critical to survival. These endangered
pachyderms must eat upwards of 330 pounds of low-calorie vegetation per day
to sustain themselves. Yet how they find the best ways to get their greens
remains elusive. Data from more than 150 elephants found that they plan
their journeys based on both resources availability and energy costs. The
findings are detailed in a study published March 26 in the Journal of
Animal Ecology and show how every step matters for these gentle giants.
“These new results have important implications for assessing and planning
conservation and restoration measures, such as dispersal corridors, by
explicitly accounting for the energy costs of moving,” Emilio Berti, a
study co-author and ecologist from the German Centre for Integrative
Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena said in
a statement.
Every step you take
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the African
forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) as Critically Endangered and the
African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) as Endangered. Increased
human activity has further fragmented their habitats, so understanding how
they move throughout their landscape is crucial for designing better
conservation strategies. They can travel between 31 and 121 miles in a
single day, yet the key drivers behind elephant movements across this often
harsh terrain have been less clear.
In this new study, scientists from the University of Oxford in the United
Kingdom, iDiv, and Friedrich Schiller University Jena in Germany used GPS
tracking data from 157 African elephants in northern Kenya. The data was
collected by conservation organization Save the Elephants from 1998 to 2020.
The data indicated that the elephants strongly prefer landscape with lower
movement costs. About 94 percent of the elephants in the study avoided
rough terrain and steep slopes. According to the team, this suggests that
the animals are aware of their surroundings and are making cost-benefit
decisions regarding the most energy-efficient paths to take.
The elephants also actively select areas that have higher vegetation
productivity. Ninety-three percent indicated a preference for going towards
more resource-rich environments.
Similarly, water sources play a key role in where they choose to go.
However, individual elephants can respond to water differently. Some will
stay nearby, while others roam further away. This indicates that their
movement choices are much more complex than simply traveling over to the
nearest body of water.
As far as speed, elephants moving at a slow speed show an even stronger
avoidance of the difficult, more energetically-costly terrain. About 74
percent of the individual elephants avoided these rough or steep areas when
moving slowly. This number jumped to 87 percent when they moved at
intermediate speeds and 93 percent when moving fast. The elephants appear
to be carefully balancing both effort and energy efficiency on long
journeys.
According to the team, this behavior is comparable to birds that appear to
deliberately use favorable thermal uplifts to reduce the energetic costs of
flying.
Enter ENERSCAPE
In order to analyze the tracking data, the team used a modelling method
called ENERSCAPE. The program estimates the energy costs of movement based
on the animals’ body mass and the slope of the terrain. By integrating
these estimates with satellite data on the vegetation productivity and
water availability in the area, the team built detailed energy landscapes
that can help better explain elephants’ decisions regarding where to move.
A statistical approach called step-selection functions was also used to
assess how these particular elephants selected which paths to take. This
technique compares the locations that the elephants actually visited with
other nearby areas they could have selected, but ultimately, did not. By
doing so, the team pinpointed which environmental factors likely play a
role in elephants’ movement decisions and habitat selection.
‘Save energy whenever possible’
These new findings could help conservationists design protected areas and
migration corridors to reduce conflict with humans. Additionally, the team
suggests that conservation strategies should account for these individual
differences in habitat preferences, particularly regarding water access.
Understanding these results could also help predict how elephant movements
may respond to climate change. Increased temperatures and changes to rain
patterns affects both the energy costs of moving, and the availability of
food and water.
In future studies, the team aims to refine energy landscape models by
adding seasonal changes, human disturbances, and the impact of climate
change on elephant movements into their models.
“While more detailed research is needed to fully understand how an elephant
uses its habitat, this study identifies a central decision-making factor
for travelling elephants,” study co-author and University of Oxford
evolutionary biologist Fritz Vollrath said in a statement. “Save energy
whenever possible.”
https://www.popsci.com/environment/elephants-planning-journeys/
Elephants Travel Smart to Conserve Energy on Their Journeys
Jack Knudson, Discover Magazine
March 27, 2025
Elephants are no pushovers when it comes to walking great distances every
day, and they even seem to have a knack for planning their demanding
journeys. A new study puts the ingenuity of these mammals on full display,
showing how they strategically choose certain routes to make their trips as
efficient as possible.
The study, published in the Journal of Animal Ecology, shares several key
findings that demonstrate how African savanna elephants move through
challenging landscapes. Being the largest megaherbivores on Earth, these
animals need to eat heaps of low-calorie vegetation to stay energized, yet
their prodigious size makes moving around a physical ordeal. To save
energy, the elephants deliberately travel through certain landscapes based
on the terrain, vegetation, and water sources.
Tracking Elephant Migration
In the new study, researchers used GPS tracking data from 157 African
elephants in Northern Kenya. Researchers analyzed the data — collected over
22 years (from 1998 to 2020) — with a modeling method called ENERSCAPE,
which estimates the cost of movement in legged terrestrial animals based on
body mass and the incline of terrain.
The researchers paired the estimates with satellite data on vegetation
productivity and water availability, and with this information, they were
able to devise energy landscapes that would inform them on the ways
elephants tended to move.
They then followed a process known as step-selection functions to determine
how environmental factors influenced elephant movement, comparing the
locations elephants visited with other nearby areas that they didn’t choose.
What Do Elephants Plan For?
Elevation is considered an important factor in elephants’ habitat
preferences, but movement costs are more often associated with the slope of
terrain. The new study found that 94 percent of the elephants represented
by the data avoided areas with steep slopes and rough terrain, showing that
they purposefully picked routes that would save them energy.
“While more detailed research is needed to fully understand how an elephant
uses its habitat, this study identifies a central decision-making factor
for travelling elephants: save energy whenever possible,” said co-author
Fritz Vollrath of the University of Oxford in a statement.
Whether or not an area has easy access to food also plays a role in
elephants’ movement; 93 percent of the elephants preferred areas with high
vegetation productivity.
The researchers encountered a different outcome with water availability,
finding that only 41 percent of the elephants preferred areas in close
proximity to water. The researchers note that elephants’ preference for
water availability may change based on additional considerations like
elevation and the presence of humans near water sources. The fact that
elephants don’t always travel to the nearest river or pond adds a layer of
complexity to their decision-making abilities.
The speed of the elephants’ movement also impacts the likelihood of
avoiding areas that would be difficult to navigate and waste too much
energy. When moving slowly, 74 percent of individuals avoided energetically
costly areas, and this increased to 86 percent at intermediate speeds and
then to 93 percent at fast speeds.
Support for Elephant Conservation
The information gathered from the study will serve as a guide to create
more effective conservation measures for elephants, the researchers say.
Knowing how elephants choose to move could help conservationists as they
design protected areas and migration corridors for the animals. The study
could also be used to model how elephants’ movements may be modified by
climate change, which will affect ecological conditions like food and water
availability.
The next step for researchers is to assess other factors that haven’t been
extensively covered, including seasonal changes, human disturbances, and
climate change effects.