Trunks & Leaves
(Inc.)
Annual Report 2014
Letter from the President & Co-Founder Dear Friends and Colleagues, This past year brought some exciting new projects to the Udawalawe Elephant Research Project. We made our first ever attempts to conduct playback experiments using the sounds of elephants and bees, in collaboration with visiting researchers. It was a learning experience! We also made a preliminary excursion to Minneriya National Park, to evaluate the prospects for studying the large elephant population that gathers there each dry season.
The year also brought some unwelcome developments, as we and other conservationists to shone the spotlight on attempts to capture elephant calves illegally from the wild in Sri Lanka. The numbers can only be guessed at, but I believe it can pose a serious threat to wild populations if continued unchecked.
As ever, Trunks & Leaves continues our dual mission of understanding Asian elephant biology and conservation threats as well as facilitating education about these issues around the world by working with like-minded organizations, and the media. Please join our efforts by visiting the website if you would like to help.
Dr. Shermin de Silva December 2014
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Wildlife of Udawalawe
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Meet The Board Shermin de Silva - President Shermin obtained her Ph.D University of Pennsylvania 2010, studying the Asian elephants of Uda Walawe National Park. From 2001-2002 she was the youth coordinator for Earth Team, a California-based nonprofit seeking to strengthen youth environmental leadership. She is currently an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Colorado State University, in the Department of Fish Wildlife and Conservation Biology, continuing research on elephants. She is also a trustee of EFECT, Sri Lanka.
Sergey Kryazhimskiy - Treasurer Sergey received his Ph.D from Princeton University in 2007 and is currently a postdoctoral researcher studying evolutionary dynamics in Harvard University, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. Dr. Kryazhimskiy is interested in making science open and relevant to the public.
Esther A. Clarke - Clerk Esther completed her Ph.D in 2010 at the University of St. Andrews. Dr. Clarke studied the vocalizations and behavior of wild whitehanded gibbons in one of Thailand's National Parks. She became interested in elephants after a run in with a rather large one in the forests of Thailand. Currently a postdoctoral researcher Durham University, UK, Dr. Clarke has broad interest in biodiversity conservation and education.
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Catherine Craig - Advisor Cay is the president and founder of CPAL International. She is a member of the research staff of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University. Previously she served as an Associate Professor on the biology faculty at Yale University. She is a fellow of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the American Association of University Women and a Science Scholar at the Mary Ingraham Bunting Institute. Dr. Craig has been the recipient of grants from both public agencies and private foundations including the National Science Foundation, the Whitehall Foundation, and the National Geographic Society. She is the author of the book "Spider webs and silk: tracing evolution from molecules to genes to phenotypes" (Oxford , 2003).
Stefano Vaglio - Advisor We are pleased to newly welcome Stefano, who gained his Ph.D. in 2009 from Florence University (Italy). He is interested in chemical communication in primates, welfare assessment and management of captive animals, and in-situ conservation initiatives. Currently he works as a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow in Anthropology at Durham University (UK). For several years he has been working on applied projects about primate conservation and the sustainability of local communities in Africa and, as a result of this experience, he became a founder of Carbon Sink Group of which he is currently Partner and Member of the Board of Directors. Additionally, he is Research Associate at Garda Zoological Park and Member of the Steering Committee of the EU LIFE Northern Bald Ibis project.
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Field Reports Essential to our research is trying to understand how Asian elephants will respond to Asian honey bees, Apis mellifera scutella, but it’s possible that elephants may still prefer to avoid the stinging insects.
Elephants and Bees in Sri Lanka By Dr. Lucy E. King, Save The Elephants
We have teamed up with Dr. Shermin de Silva and her team at the Uda Walawe Research Project. In June 2014, I spent a month in Uda Walawe NP trying to understand how elephants react to the sound of disturbed honeybees, as well as taking the chance to learn more about Asian elephant social structure and forage behavior. Stay Tuned for the results of this exciting project!
With the growing success of our Elephants and Bees Project in Africa, there has been an increasing interest from elephant projects in Asia to see if we can export our beehive fence idea to help Asian farmers from Asian crop-raiding elephants. Sri Lanka has almost 6,000 elephants packed onto a relatively small island. The human-elephant conflict issues are severe and will only increase as development and human expansion grows in this post-war country.
Read more on the blog: asianelephant.wordpress.com 6
Studying Communication By Michael Pardo, Cornell University
their daily lives, and I started to get to know them as individuals. It was challenging work - it is notoriously difficult to determine which call came from which elephant. Background noise from wind and distant jeep engines was always an issue as well.
Since we know that Asian elephants calls differs between individuals, a fundamental yet unanswered question is whether the elephants themselves can discriminate between the calls of their group members and the call of outsiders. To address this questions, I wanted to play back the Communication is the glue recordings of elephant calls to the that holds animal societies togethelephants and record their reer, and Asian elephants certainly sponses. Using UWERP’s library of have complex, long-lasting social recordings, I selected two calls to relationships. But compared to Afplay back to each group; a rican elephants, we know almost “familiar” call from an individual nothing about how Asian elewithin the group, and an phants communicate with one “unfamiliar” call from a different another. From January to July of 2014, I worked with the Uda Walawe Elephant Research Project to try and shed some light on the vocal commutation of wild Asian elephants. Together with Sameera and Kumara, I went into the field as often as possible to record vocalizations and eventually I got the chance to watch these amazing creatures as they went about 7
Field Reports group. Based on the results of previous studies with African elephants, I expected the elephants would move towards calls from their own group, and to move away from or ignore calls from other groups. Because of the unusually low frequencies of elephant rumbles, I need a very large loudspeaker – 459 pounds, in fact! The custom – made speaker finally arrived in Sri Lanka in April, and after a month of tests and practice runs, we began to conduct the experiments.
bling and roaring loudly the whole way! The B group reacted similarly when we played back the rumble from [174]’s group. What was especially surprising is that the B group and [174]’s group had never been seen together in four years of observation! Their strong reactions to one another’s calls were exactly the opposite of what I had expected, and exactly the opposite of the way that African elephants tend to react to calls from non-group members.
Towards the end of my field At first, the elephants didn't season, I was very fortunate to be respond to the playbacks, but able to participate in another eventually we began to see some study led by Dr. Lucy King, and in interesting reactions. Perhaps the- the process I learned an incredible most striking responses occurred amount from her. The six months during our playbacks with the B that I spent in Sri Lanka were an group and the [174]’s group. unforgettable experience and When we played back a call from taught me a great deal, not only the B group to [174], she walked about the fascinating lives of elebriskly towards the research vehiphants, but also about the fieldcle with the speaker and chased it work and scientific inquiry in genfor half a mile down the road, rum- eral. 8
The Walawe Dwarf is spotted again And he packs quite a punch!
Last year we glimpsed the only recorded case of a dwarf elephant in the wild, formally identified as M459 and nicknamed the Walawe Dwarf. This year we were thrilled to observe him fighting another full-sized bull - and winning!
Asianelephant.wordpress.com/ popular-press
Check out the research paper and videos of this phenomenal fight online –
Youtube.com/trunksnleaves
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Photo Break
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Wildlife in Minneriya National Park Along with Kaudulla and Girithale, Minneriya forms one of the 70 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) of Sri Lanka.
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Field Reports My memorable experience in Minneriya
protect the catchment of Minneriya reservoir (known as ‘tanks’ in Sri Lanka) and the wildlife of the surroundU. Sameera Weerathunga ing area. The tank is of historical importance, having been built by King MaIn August Kumara & I hasen in third century AD. The park worked at the Minneris a feeding ground for the eleiya National Park (MNP). First we phant population dwelling in formet Mr. Jayaweera, a Guard, who ests of Matale, Polonnaruwa, and I knew from the Open University. Trincomalee districts. It is also ecoHe welcomed us and introduced nomically important, having to Mr. Wikramathilaka, the Park earned revenue of Rs. 10.7 millions Warden of Minneriya National Park in the six months ending in August as well as others. He advised and 2009. gave us a The lot of inforarea is situatmation ed in dry about all zone of Sri the people Lanka and who are receives an working in average rainthe park. fall of 1,500– They were 2,000 millimeall very tres (59– helpful. 79 in). The MNP main sources of water for the tank is in the North Central Province of are a diversion of Amban River and Sri Lanka, 182 kilometres (113 miles) Elahera canal. The wet season lasts from Colombo. The area was desduring the north eastern monsoon ignated as a national park on 12 from October to January while August 1997, having been originally May to September are considered declared as a wildlife sanctuary in the dry season. The main habitats 1938. The reason for doing so is to 12
of Minneriya includie low-canopy montane forests, intermediate high -canopy secondary forests, scrublands, abandoned chena lands, grasslands, rocky outcrops, and wetlands as well as some uniquelooking bamboo groves.
Park and benefited from food and shelter of the park's forest. Tourists visit Minneriya largely because of elephants, especially in dry season.
We started work at 2 pm in the park, and around 3 pm a lot of elephants come to dry reserThe park's wildlife includes voir bed. On the very first day 24 species of mammals, 160 speevening we saw at least 250 or cies of birds, 9 species of amphibi- more elephants. It was a wonderans, 25 species of reptiles, 26 speful scene as we have never seen cies of fish, and 75 species of butthis type of herd in anywhere, interflies. Large numbers of elecluding Udawalawe. We worked phants are attracted to grass fields from 12th of Aug to 27th of Aug on the edges of the reservoir dur2014. We so far identified 95 adult ing the dry season. The Minneriya females, 29 adult males, 6 tuskers, tank contributes to sustaining and more than 130 individuals in around 150-200 elephants on a total. It was very hard work begiven day. Some reports place the cause we were surrounded by a number as high as 700. They move lot of safari jeeps (they almost outhere from Wasgamuwa National number the elephants, unfortu13
Boiled corn: A roadside treat!
nately), only a few roads to use, and could work only in the afternoons, because elephants don’t come out in the morning here. However, I liked this experience, it will be in my memory as a special place. In the coming months we will work to sort out our ID photos in preparation for another visit next year. Our special thanks to the following persons in the Minneriya National Park: Mr.Wikramathilaka (Park Warden), Mr. Upali Karunarathna (Asst. Warden), Mr. Jayaweera (Guard), Mr. Wijethilaka, & Mr.Ranasinghe (Batuoya Beat office), Mr. Samatha (Volunteer Tracker ) and Mr. Gunathilaka (Accommodations). We also thank all other trackers, staff members, and jeep drivers at MNP. This work was jointly supported by grants from US Fish &
Wildlife and International Elephant Foundation along with Trunks & Leaves.
The elephants are too crowded by tourists in Minneriya, despite many workshops with safari guides about responsible conduct. Safari-goers can help by insisting on maintaining a comfortable distance from elephants, despite the temptation for close-up photos! For more on being an ethical traveller, visit:
asianelephantresource.webs.com/ ethical-tourism
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Conservation Alerts
T458, a calf known since birth and featured in last year’s annual report story by Lizzie Webber. Now three years old, he was spotted with what appear to be rope scars on his legs, possibly one of several ‘calfknapping’ attempts in Udawalawe and other areas.
Last year there was a worry- make good on their promise to ing spike in the number of incidents crack down on such activities. in which elephant calves were illegally captured from the wild. This Baby elephants are cute. has gone on for some time, priGlobally, tourism can also marily driven by the Sri Lankan tradrive such issues —especially dition of keeping elephants as stain countries such as Thailand tus symbols. Those implicated had and Myanmar, which have powerful political connections. large captive populations and The true extent of the problem unactivities centered on handsknown, with some reports claiming on contact with elephants. as many as 200 animals may have Please check out the ethical been taken this way. If so, given tourism link (p. 16) and be sure elephants’ slow rate of reproducyou are not contributing to this tion, the number could place a lot phenomenon! of pressure on wild populations— similar to poaching elsewhere. We are hopeful that the new government which took over in 2015 will 17
Scientific Advisory Committee Putting our heads together The scientific advisory committee is intended as a network of actively working researchers and practitioners that have an interest in elephant
conservation. Individuals will serve as a resource for one another as well as the broader community. Created in 2014, it welcomes participation and new members.
Current members
Dr. Lisa Yon has been studying captive and free-living elephants since 1994. She is a veterinarian, and completed her PhD studying the endocrinology of musth in Asian elephants in Thailand in 2006. Dr. Yon serves on the UK government advisory committee, the Elephant Welfare Group, as head of the Behaviour Subgroup. She serves on the Ethics Committee for the Zoological Society of London, on the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Frozen Ark project, and on the Health and Welfare Committee of Twycross Zoo. She is also a member of the IUCN Wildlife Health Specialist Group. Dr. Maan Barua is a human geographer. He obtained his undergraduate degree in biological sciences in India, an MSc in Biodiversity Conservation from the University of Oxford. His DPhil at Oxford, entitled ‘The Political Ecology of Human-Elephant Relations in India’, was a critical analysis of the diverse forms of human-animal encounters, practices of conservation cartography and the political role of materials in social life. At present, Maan is working on the cultural geographies of species extinction. Maan is a Research & Teaching Fellow at the School of Geography and the Environment, and Junior Research Fellow at Somerville College, Oxford. 18
Dr. Vivek Thuppil is currently an assistant professor at the University of Nottingham’s Malaysia Campus. He received his Ph.D from UC Davis, studying the response of elephants to recordings of natural predators. He is an evolutionary psychologist with a passion for helping keep the peace between people and elephants, and applying knowledge of animal behavior toward solving these practical problems.
Full bios, publications and further information at: trunksnleaves.org/scientific-advisory-committee.html
Baretail’s new baby
In last year’s report, Kumara predicted that Baretail’s aloof behavior from the rest of the B’s might signal a pregnancy. Baretail lost her previous calf, who seemed to be born premature. Happily, Kumara was right! The newest member of the B family arrived in June of 2014! 19
Teamwork Right: Dr. Shermin de Silva and collaborator Dr. Nilmini Jayasena of he University of Peradeniya were recognized by the Sri Lankan National Research Council alongside other colleagues with the President’s Award for Scientific Publication. Below: The award reflects a team effort! Left to right: Kosala Weerathunga (bookkeeping), Sameera Weerathunga (field manager), T.V. Kumara (field assistant), Nisha Suhood (Trustee, EFECT & admin), M.R. Mohammed (Ranger, Dept. Wildlife Cons.), Shermin de Silva (Director, UWERP).
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Help for an elephant caregiver
Sakura is a day laborer at the Elephant Transit Home. He's a hard and honest worker but earns less than Rs. 900 ($7) per day. We heard from Dr. Vijitha Perera, who oversees the ETH, that his modest mud and thatch house had collapsed due to heavy rains. We therefore donated Rs. 25,000 ($190) for reconstruction. But he is still need: if you would like to help, please make a donation through our support page, along with a note in the comments. 21
Media
Above: Elephant Ecosystems, a short animation collaboration with Untamed Science. Below: Photos from Mira Margaretha of the Frankfurt Zoological Society’s Indonesia program, showing a screening of the clip in a rural education program, translated into Bahasa Indonesia!
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Why do we need large wildlife, like elephants?
script so that anyone can download and translate it into their own language, free for educational use! So far it’s been made available in Sinhalese, Malay, Bahasa Indonesia. We hope more languages will continue to be added.
In collaboration with Rob Nelson of Untamed Science, we produced the short animation Ele- View or download the material: phant Ecosystems discussing why elephants are essential to their habitats. The original can be Trunksnleaves.org/ found on Youtube, plus we made resources.html available the animation and tran-
New sister site Launched in 2014 Asianelephantresource.webs.com
This free-standing website maintained by T&L consolidates resources for research, teaching, media, and tools for ethical consumption and tourism for individuals and businesses. 23
Spreading The Word
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UWERP and visiting researchers gave presentations to students grades 9-11 as well as park personnel about the work being done, and the role of elephants in ecosystems. The students were also presented books for their library.
Follow updates on Society for Conservation Biology, Asia Section Meeting Facebook: www.facebook.com/ Trunksnleaves Malacca, Malaysia
Symposium on long-term projects
& Twitter: @Asianele
Shermin de Silva (T&L) & Nurzhafarina Othman (Danau Girang Field Center, Malaysia) co-chaired a packed symposium discussing the challenges, failures and successes of conservation programs ranging from orangutans to rhinos and elephants. 25
Ways to help
Elephant Greetings From Yoshini G. Creative Portland-based independent designer Yoshini Gunawardena has created a special line of cards and generously offered to donate 100 % of proceeds to T&L !
Visit the online support page for links to all of these ways you can help!
Trunksnleaves.org/support—contact.html
Ask for the Tiger Stamp at your local post office, or order online to help US Fish & Wildlife raise funds to support programs like ours.
Designate T&L as your preferred charity on Amazon Smile, and make a zero cost donation each time you shop for eligible products on Amazon. 26
Acknowledgements
We are currently entirely volunteerdriven. Thank you to all who have helped over the past year.
Trunks & Leaves (Inc.) is a registered 501(c)3 tax-exempt non-profit organization (EIN 45-3996546)
SUPPORT US Checks can be sent to: Trunks & Leaves Inc. 2235 Sierra Court Concord CA 94518 USA Donate online at: trunksnleaves.org Publishing sponsored by:
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Trunks & Leaves Inc. 157 Summer Street No. 10F Somerville MA 02143 USA info@trunksnleaves.org
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