The use of radio-tracking data to guide development and manage elephants

Asian elephants are difficult to observe because of habitat constraints and behavioural adaptations to avoid people. Consequently, accurate information on their movement patterns, habitat occupancy and resource use can only be obtained through radiotracking.GPS radio telemetry is particularly useful for this purpose as it provides a wealth of high quality data. Around 60 elephants have been tracked in Sri Lanka over the past two decades using GPS collars. Here we present four case studies demonstrating the importance of such data inguiding development so as to prevent or reduce human-elephant conflict and for the effective management of elephants to ensure their conservation.