Rethinking Behaviors of Free‐Ranging Asian Elephants in the Context of Human‐Altered Landscapes

ABSTRACT Animals display context‐specific behavioral flexibility in response to varying environmental and anthropogenic pressures. Such responses are modulated by ecological constraints, social dynamics, and temporal variation, frequently resulting in divergent strategies even among conspecifics. These changes are commonly expressed through shifts in behavioral repertoire, reflecting the plasticity required to navigate novel or altered ecosystems. Here, we highlight some of the behavioral responses of a highly social and cognitively advanced species, the Asian elephant, living in human‐altered landscapes. Altered activity budgets and the emergence of context‐specific behaviors observed in anthropogenic landscapes suggest that elephants actively attempt to cope with rapidly changing habitats. While such flexibility may confer short‐term adaptive benefits to elephants, its long‐term fitness consequences remain uncertain. These observations challenge conventional baselines of elephant behavior derived from relatively undisturbed habitats and highlight the need to redefine “normal” behavioral expression in anthropogenically altered landscapes. Comparative, context‐specific behavioral analyses are therefore essential to avoid overgeneralization and to support more nuanced, evidence‐based conservation strategies.