Elephants choose their paths carefully to conserve energy

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.

The study is published in the Journal of Animal Ecology.

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