Collaring Human-Wildlife Conflict: Technological Solutions To Ease Tensions

An elephant sports a tracking collar placed by the Centre for Conservation and Research in Sri Lanka. Movement data is monitored via the Iridium satellite constellation. Image Credit: Smithsonian's National Zoo
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalzoo/

Biso-Menike is an Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) who roams the forests of southern Sri Lanka. In many ways, she is like other elephants living on the island. There is one thing, however, which sets her apart from all but a handful of her cohorts: she sports a collar. It may not look remarkable, but the researchers studying her movements hope that one day it may literally save lives.

Let's get the bummer out of the way. Every year in Sri Lanka, an average of 50 people and 160 elephants die as a result of what's known as human-elephant conflict (HEC.) These typically involve the injury or death of a person, or destruction of property, resulting in backlash against the offending elephant. Sri Lanka is an island nation and, like much of Asia, is experiencing trends of population growth and rapid development. The growth of human communities and activities puts pressure on elephant populations by forcing the sharing of habitat, and thus increases the potential for negative interactions between elephants and locals. 2019 was a record year for elephant deaths in Sri Lanka, with 361 animals reportedly killed. The majority of these deaths occur near rural communities, where human agricultural activities can create attractive feeding grounds for hungry elephants, resulting in the creatures sometimes being viewed as pests.

The good news is that there are some amazing people on the ground finding truly fascinating solutions to the issue of human-elephant conflict. The Center for Conservation and Research - Sri Lanka decided to take a novel approach to this issue. Rather than human-elephant conflict, the group refers to HEC as human-elephant coexistence. Words have meaning, and CCR-SL wanted to change the narrative. The group of researchers, concerned citizens, and others began with detailed studies of elephant behavior on the island. The center hoped to use this data to guide them in their management practices, and some of their findings are quite interesting. Sri Lanka, being an island, doesn't allow for a huge amount of elephant migration. Apparently, they're actually homebodies (average home ranges tend to be between 50 - 150 square kilometers.) Importantly, they determined that this relatively sedentary pattern is a natural one, and not the result of development and other human activities restricting movement. The real zinger came when they found that, when given the choice, elephants actually prefer secondary forest, specifically the successional vegetation that takes over after an area has been slashed and burned for the cultivation of chena (a yam-like tuber.) This has led to a host of discoveries and solutions focusing on the holistic management of chena which allows for the sustenance and safety of both people and elephants. Farmers plant and work the land for part of the year, elephants then utilize the land during the fallow periods after the people have left. This work has allowed for a sustainable, mutually beneficial relationship to develop between elephants and farmers where tensions are reduced and both species can thrive. I highly encourage you to check out the full story!

Researchers track an elephant's collar. Image Credit: Smithsonian's National Zoo
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalzoo/

Today, what started as small initiatives to try and understand more about elephants has spread and gained traction. In Kenya, collaborations between the World Wildlife Fund and local Maasai communities have used similar tactics to study migration patterns and protect elephant herds. This data allows researchers to identify crucial corridors which keep the elephants habitats connected. By studying this data, and analyzing seasonal and annual trends, the groups hope to be able to predict herd movement patterns and identify potential areas of conflict (such as if a herd moves near a farm.) This data will hopefully allow for the careful planning and management of land use to minimize the potential for negative interactions.

A collared bull elephant in Naboisho Conservancy, Kenya.  Image Credit: Regine Hart
https://www.flickr.com/photos/reginahart/

The Elephant In The Group Chat

Tracking the movements of wild animals, including through the use of radio or GPS collars, has long been a powerful tool in the conservationist's toolkit. With advances in technology such as GPS and radio trackers and satellite arrays, the cost of utilizing these technologies has dropped dramatically. This has opened new avenues of research to people and groups who were previously hamstringed by funding issues. Today, animal tracking has the potential to reveal massive amounts of information about often elusive creatures, including species who live in dense jungles or who were previously too small to be tracked via tag. A few years ago, a group of researchers in southern India decided to take animal tracking to the next level. They devised a system which allows elephants to send out texts.

A group of elephants crosses a road in India. Image Credit: Haiderali44
https://www.flickr.com/photos/haiderali4496/

Okay, it's not actually the elephants writing the texts (though they probably could learn to send emojis if they had cell phone buttons large enough.) The messages are actually part of a program designed to reduce negative human-elephant interactions in the Western Ghats, a mountain range on the Indian peninsula. The Nature Conservation Foundation, the group responsible for implementing the program, began gathering data and looking for trends way back in 2002. The group identified and tracked the movements of over 100 elephants in at least 3 herds, and were able to pinpoint remarkable trends around habitat use and range, and focus on the locations and times of the year where human-elephant conflicts were most common. Some solutions out of the project include: changing human food storage habits which reduced elephant damage to buildings, identifying crucial migration corridors and allowing the elephants unobstructed passage, and an early warning system to alert community members of elephant activity via SMS text message.

In a nutshell, a collective of people known as the elephant informant network track elephant activity. This information is sent to a system which tracks this data, and passes along messages to people who live in the area. The early warning messages are also displayed via crawl on local TV news stations. As a last resort for those who may not have mobile phone or TV access, a series of widely visible indicator lights have been set up in 30 different locations. These lights are activated when elephants are detected within 1 km, and the group is working on having public transport buses receive the alerts as well. As a last line of defense, a rapid response team is prepared to jump into action to ensure the safety of the people and elephants. So far, the system seems to be working well. Events of property damage from elephants has decreased, movements of elephant herds has been improved, and best of all, it has reduced deaths among both people and elephants (human deaths have dropped by 50%.)  All while earning and maintaining the trust and cooperation of the local communities who share this space with the giants of the forest.

Nuisance No More!

If tracking animal movement and devising an early warning system around the data worked for elephants, there's likely a whole host of situations out there where similar systems could also prove to be effective. Where I live in central Washington, the issue of wolf reintroduction into their historic ranges is somewhat of a hot topic. While many support the idea of wolves once again roaming the forests of Washington, the idea of one in your own backyard is a bit different. For those who raise cattle and other livestock in the area, the fears are highly personal. A handful of practices are in use to try and keep cattle losses to wolf packs low, and some prove to be more effective than others. One of the State Fish and Wildlife Department's goals is to educate ranchers on simple yet effective things they can do to protect their herds, such as giving extra protection to sick or injured livestock, maintaining adequate fencing, and using light or noise-making devices which are activated by motion sensors. Surprisingly, fladry (bright, usually red or orange, cloth hung on fencing) has proven quite effective, with wolves showing an increased hesitancy to cross these barriers. Given enough time, however, wolves will test barriers and deterrents, and eventually outsmart them. Other measures are also used, including the use of range riders. These groups of mostly volunteers patrol and respond to potential conflicts, such as when wolf packs show signs of moving toward livestock.

A wolf sports a tracking collar. Image Credit: Oregon Dept. of Agriculture
https://www.flickr.com/photos/oragriculture/

Washington State has even equipped some wolves with tracking collars! Initially, the tracking data was shared with a wide range of people impacted by wolves. This included ranchers, local authorities, and the range riders tasked with aiding in conflict prevention. The information was close to real-time, with some lag depending on the type of tracking collar, and location of satellites. In the past few years, there has been discussion on changing the way this data is shared. Wolf biologists and conservationists are concerned the data is being used to harass wolf packs, including by disrupting rendezvous areas and disturbing dens (especially during the spring when pups are being reared.) Washington State considered changing from using raw tracking data to a display known as the 'blue blob', where areas are shaded with the color blue to show where the packs are most likely to be. The goal is to more accurately track and predict the movement of entire herds, as opposed to just the wolves wearing collars, as well as protect the wolves from potential disturbance by people who may misuse the data. This change has not been viewed favorably by cattle producers, who fear the new data format may result in higher cattle losses. This problem is one which is also being addressed in elephant tracking, as the movement data used by researchers and conservationists can also be used by poachers and others wishing to do the animals harm. It's an excellent example of how conservationists and researchers must strike a delicate balance between gathering invaluable data in order to protect a species, and protecting a species from the vulnerabilities said data may expose. Nothing's ever easy in conservation...

To Infinity And Beyond

Satellites are being used in the tracking of the well-known and charismatic animals mentioned above, but we can't forget about the creatures most consider a bit more mundane. Luckily, there are folks on the job! ICARUS (International Cooperation for Animal Research Using Space), apart from having a sweet acronym, is pursuing animal tracking on a global scale. Eventually, the project hopes to amass movement data and other information from a wide range of species, with the goal of learning from a distance what researchers have to spend weeks or months discovering in the field. They call this ideal database the 'Internet of Animals', a reference to the Internet of Things (IoT) where all our devices are connected and 'talk' to each other. While they plan on getting their own satellites into orbit one day, for now the project utilizes the International Space Station as a receiver! The transmitters measure position and movement data, and transmit the information via radio. Oh, and they only weigh a mere 5 grams!

Tracking tags used by ICARUS. Image Credit: Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior/Ziegler
https://www.icarus.mpg.de/103842/open-source-policy

The chips small size makes it perfectly suited to fit on smaller animals. Anything over 5% of an animals total body weight is considered a detriment to the animals survival (basically, it will slow them down!) The transmitter must also be attached in such a way that the animals movements are not impeded.

A blackbird sports an ICARUS tag. Image Credit: Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior/MaxCine
https://www.icarus.mpg.de/28874/sensor-animals-tracking

Another really cool thing about the project is, it's OPEN SOURCE! This means that the technology, software, and pretty much everything else used is available to others. Eventually, anyone will be able to order and use the tracking tags in the image above. Movebank, hosted by the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, is a free online database for scientists managing animal tracking data. Currently, over 5,000 researchers use it to track over 750 species all over the world. If all you have is a smartphone, there's an app for that! The Animal Tracker App lets users add their own animal sightings, as well as making them available to any scientist out there who may be interested. You can upload photos of your sighting, and all the data is automatically stored on Movebank.

While the ICARUS project may not seem like it relates to human-wildlife conflict, at least not in the same way as in the elephant or wolf examples, it certainly has a lot to offer. The project began in an effort to better understand mass die-offs of birds and other organisms, which are likely involved with human conflict on some level (think habitat loss, flocks fleeing human-caused wildfires, and climate change for example.) Furthermore, the fact that the technology can be used to track any species over 100 grams in weight, with no upper limit, makes it an invaluable resource in better understanding (and ultimately conserving) a particular species. Theoretically, even smaller organisms such as insects could be tracked indirectly if they are closely associated with a larger organism (like tracking anteaters to locate anthives.) Oh and as a weird but awesome side-note, ICARUS scientists are trying to see if tracking animals could help predict natural disasters like tsunamis and earthquakes. A two-year study tracked goats living around Mt. Etna on the island of Sicily and found that the animals successfully 'predicted' seven major eruptions based on ICARUS movement data!

Sicilian goats around Mt. Etna became anxious prior to natural disasters. Image Credit: Max Planck Institute of Ornithology/MaxCine
https://www.icarus.mpg.de/28810/animals-warning-sensors

As human activity will likely continue to expand and encroach on our wild neighbors, human-wildlife conflict will likely follow suit. However if we can use our ingenuity and creativity to try and stay one step ahead of these conflicts, and enlist help from technological advances like these and others, we have the potential to improve the quality of life for all life on Earth and preserve these wonderful creatures into the future.

To learn more about the different tracking projects mentioned above, and some I didn't talk about, or get involved, check out some of the following links:
- Center for Conservation and Research - Sri Lanka: Asian elephants
- Conservation Northwest: Washington's Wolves: Grey wolves
- European Wilderness Society: Alliance for Wolf Conservation: Eurasian wolves
- ICARUS Project: Global animal monitoring and tracking projects
- Nature Conservation Foundation - India: Many species and projects
- Pacific Wolf Coalition (Western US): Grey wolves
- Wolf Conservation Center (NY, USA): Grey wolves
- World Wildlife Fund - African Elephant Programme: African elephants