The influence of personality and cognition on savannah elephant (Loxodonta africana) behaviour

随着人口的增加，人与动物之间的冲突将会加剧。防止这种冲突的策略通常依赖于对一个物种内所有个体的一揽子方法。然而，很少有研究来了解主动接近人类住区的动物的个体动机，以及最终的个性。在博茨瓦纳，姆加迪卡迪平原的村庄经常遭受人象冲突（HEC），因为大草原上的大象经常从国家公园过河去抢劫庄稼。目前，当地政府正在沿着公园边界修建围栏。确定围栏是否有可能减轻HEC，或者是否需要实施替代解决方案，对于防止该地区发生更大的冲突至关重要。因此，我们的项目旨在量化个性是否预测非洲大草原大象的认知表达，作为了解大象个体特质的工具。让大象面对一个有三扇门的谜题盒子：推门（最容易）、滑动门（中等难度）或拉链（最难）来获得水果奖励，这将评估它们的个性（接近和探索新物体时是否大胆或害羞）和解决问题的能力（它们首先进入哪扇门，尝试打开多少次）。我们还将评估：a)野生和圈养的草原象，b)亚洲象和非洲象，以及c)个体对谜题盒和围栏的反应是否不同。总的来说，这种预测措施可以确定大象对围栏的反应，将有助于制定量身定制的保护策略。

The conflict between human and animals will worsen as the human population increases. Strategies to help prevent such conflict often rely on blanket approaches across all individuals within a species. Yet, little research has been carried out to understand the individual motivation, and ultimately personality, of animals who actively approach human settlements. In Botswana, villages in the Mkgadikgadi pans suffer with frequent human-elephant conflict (HEC), as savannah elephants frequently cross the river from the National Park to crop-raid. Currently, local authorities are constructing fences along the park border. Determining if fences are likely to mitigate HEC, or if alternative solutions need to be implemented, is integral to prevent greater conflict arising in this area. As such, our project aims to quantify whether personality predicts the cognitive expression of African savannah elephants, as a tool to understand the individual idiosyncrasies of the elephants. Exposing the elephants to a puzzle-box featuring three doors: a push-door (easiest), a slide (medium difficulty) or pull-chain (hardest) to access a fruit reward, will assess both their personality (bold or shy in approaching and exploring the novel object), and problem-solving ability (which door do they access first, how many attempts to open them). We shall also assess if personality and problem-solving differs between: a) wild and captive savannah elephants, b) Asian and African elephants, and c) an individuals' response to the puzzle-box and fences. Overall, this predictive measure to determine how our elephants will react to the fences [novelty], will aid the development of tailored conservation strategies.