Saving elephants with spare change

As one of the senior animal caretakers on the Oklahoma City Zoo’s elephant and rhino team, I had the opportunity in January to visit Sri Lanka to see two crucial conservation projects funded through the Zoo’s Round Up for Conservation program.

Sri Lanka, though small, is home to an estimated 6,000 wild elephants, boasting the world’s highest density of wild Asian elephants. To put that into perspective, if we shrunk Sri Lanka down to the size of Oklahoma City, in comparison it would have about 200 elephants. In Oklahoma City, there are about 200 car washes. So, every time you drive past a car wash, take a moment to imagine what life would be like if that was an elephant.

My visit kicked off at the International Forestry and Environment Symposium in Colombo, where I met with field assistants Malsha and Darshika from the Sri Lanka Elephant Project (SLEP) and gained insights into their invaluable elephant research—more on this later.

After that, I traveled to Kandy, a city renowned for its cultural landmarks, and the nearby Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, which is a pivotal site for elephant conservation efforts. With 69 elephants, Pinnawala houses the largest group of male elephants in human care (39 in total), offering a unique opportunity for SLEP to collaborate on musth research. Musth is a heightened hormonal state that all male elephants experience, but much is still unknown about it. The more we learn about elephants, the better we can conserve them.

Venturing deeper into the heart of Sri Lanka’s forests, our next stop was the Kaludiyapokuna Forest, surrounded by lush greenery and wildlife. While staying in a fieldhouse located minutes from the forest, I spent time with the Kaludiyapokuna Primate Conservation and Research Center (KPCRC) team tracking purple-faced langurs, one of the world’s most endangered primate species. After using a motorbike to get into the forest with members of the KPCRC field team, we hiked until we spotted our first troop of langurs.

Endemic to Sri Lanka, purple-faced langurs are an arboreal species, living amongst the trees in small, scattered groups. Because they are found in minimal forest ranges and are highly impacted by roads creating gaps between tree lines, the species is critically endangered. The KPCRC field team follows several of these groups to track their movements, make behavioral observations, and collect fecal samples. While I was with the team, I was able to spend time with them following these elusive primates. Because the team has worked to habituate these small populations so that they can study them, I was able to sit amongst the troop, mere feet away from a family group, and watch them. The encounter provided a rare glimpse into the challenges faced by wildlife researchers and the delicate balance between human and animal habitats.

It’s worth noting that the use of a motorbike to get to the forest is not a convenience, but a safety measure against unwanted encounters with elephants. This area of Sri Lanka has one of the highest concentrations of human-elephant conflict, and this conflict was constantly apparent around the communities where we were working.

As an elephant caretaker, it’s no surprise that the majority of my time was spent with the Sri Lanka Elephant Project team. SLEP collects data on demographics, elephant behavior, and the health of elephant populations in areas of human-elephant conflict. They also conduct surveys of local community members to understand what their experiences and perceptions of elephants are. By doing this, the team is developing science-based strategies to address human-elephant conflict.

Most of our days were spent tracking elephants in Minneriya National Park, but we also visited Hurulu Eco Park and Wasgamuwa National Park–each containing its own diverse mosaic of ecosystems of mixed evergreen forest, grasslands, and wetlands.

While inside the parks and traveling outside of them, I gained firsthand insights into the complexities of human-elephant conflict.

During surveys of local community members, the reality of human-elephant conflict hit me while witnessing the devastating consequences for both humans and elephants. In 2023 alone, 470 elephants and 176 people lost their lives to such conflicts in Sri Lanka. There is an urgent need for sustainable solutions, which includes support for initiatives, like the OKC Zoo’s Round Up for Conservation, which directly funds SLEP and other vitally important projects.

At the Oklahoma City Zoo, we take immense pride in our work with our eight resident Asian elephants. Through research endeavors, including behavioral studies and biological research, we contribute vital data to the scientific understanding of elephants. By supporting initiatives like SLEP, the Zoo is not only enriching the lives of its resident elephants but also contributing to broader conservation efforts worldwide. Through education, advocacy, and support for conservation initiatives, we can ensure a brighter future for elephants and all species that live with them. Programs like Round Up allow our spare change to be the change our planet desperately needs.

This blog post was written by Nadia Miecznikowski, Senior Animal Caretaker of Elephants and Rhinos at Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden.