IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Thuppil, V.; Coss, R.G. | |
| Playback of felid growls mitigates crop-raiding by elephants _Elaphas maximus_ in southern India | |
| 2015 Oryx: 1-7 | |
We attempted to deter crop-raiding elephants _Elephas maximus _by using playbacks of threatening vocalizations such as felid growls and human shouts. For this purpose, we tested two sound-playback systems in southern India: a wireless, active infrared beam-triggered system to explore the effects of night-time uncertainty in elephants' assessment of predatory threats, and a passive infrared motion detector-triggered system for closer-range playbacks. Using the first system, we deterred 90% of crop-raiding attempts using tiger _Panthera tigris_ growls, 72.7% using leopard _Panthera pardus _growls, and 57.1% using human shouts, with no statistically significant difference among the three sounds. Using the second system, playbacks of tiger and lion _Panthera leo _growls deterred 100 and 83.3% of crop-raiding attempts, respectively, with no statistically reliable difference between the two, although video evidence indicated that elephants were more fearful of tiger growls. Our results indicate that playbacks of threatening sounds can be effective in mitigating human-elephant conflict, particularly in bolstering existing deterrent methods. |
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