The Project
Volunteer with Elephants and Communities in Sri Lanka

1) SOCIAL RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

Human-Elephant Conflict Surveys

Together with a local field scout (who has been trained to become a local conservationist and research assistant), you will cycle into the village nearby to find out whether there have been any recent incidents of elephants raiding. Generally you will obtain this information from a shop, temple or other community focal point. You will then cycle along to the raiding location and interview the owner to assess and record the damages caused to his crops or property. A similar sub-project for leopards is also being designed and run as a pilot project.

Fence Monitoring

Project Partners have erected three fences in the project area that are monitored for breakages, level of maintenance and elephant presence; to provide essential information for changing management patterns and to help reduce HEC.

2) ELEPHANT RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

Transect Surveys

Transects are where you go generally along straight lines, trails or roads of several kilometres in length and record elephant dung (its perpendicular position, composition, size, age, etc) as well as the other signs left behind by elephants. This allows for us to build density estimates or presence/absence and use patterns of areas.

Dung Survey for Crop Content Analysis

In teams you will survey feeding and drinking areas around water holes for elephant dung and record crop species found in the dung.

Tank Monitoring

Tanks are ancient irrigation reservoirs built to collect rainwater to cultivate rice during the dry season. When the water recedes in the dry season the littoral area gets covered in grass. Since most of these tanks are perennial, they draw elephants looking for water and food in the dry season. In teams, you will monitor tanks by walking around them.

Direct Elephant Observations and National Park Survey

Accompanied by a local scientist and a park guide, you will drive through the national park and other areas where elephants are found, to record any elephants you come across. You will help to identify, photograph, cross-reference or add them to the database, and record individual behaviour and herd composition.

3) PLANNED AND PILOT RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

Tree Hut Observations

As part of a team, you will spend the night in a tree hut waiting for elephants to appear and, if they do, recording their behaviour, herd composition, activity patterns, etc. (depending on the available light and how close the elephants are to the hut). This activity is aimed at building a profile of the area where the tree huts are, for both nocturnal human use and animal use, and as a deterrent to poachers and illegal loggers.

GPS Mapping of Roads and Trails

Accompanied by a local scientist you will drive along small roads and jungle paths to map the road systems, general vegetation and/or land use, and then build up a GIS system with this information.

Mammal Surveying

You will conduct mammal surveying during trail, road and line transect studies, and when observing elephants from tree platforms and ground hides near water holes. We have established a pilot leopard survey in the current project area.

Bird Surveying

Bird surveying will be conducted all the time, whenever the teams are in the field doing other studies. When a bird is spotted, its GPS location, time, terrain, weather conditions and habitat is recorded, and an attempt made to identify it on site using the field guide. You will also spend time counting – and identifying at regular intervals – the birds observed at fixed elephant observation points, such as tree huts and hides.

Trap-Lines

Trap-lines will be used to survey for small mammals, reptiles and amphibians.

Seine and dip netting

Seine and dip nets will be used to collect fish from the various water bodies in the research area to develop a species list.