Current status of Asian elephants in Sri Lanka
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Sri Lanka holds an important position with regard to Asian elephant conservation. Well over 10% of the global Asian elephant population in less than 2% of elephant range (Leimgruber et al. 2003), makes Sri Lanka the range country with the highest density of elephants. It also has one of the highest human densities among rangecountries. Therefore successes and failures in Sri Lanka can provide critical insights into mitigating human-elephant conflict (HEC) and conserving elephants. In addition Sri Lankan elephants are recognized as a distinct subspecies. Although genetic support for a sub-specific distinction is low, Sri Lanka has the highest genetic diversity of Asian elephants (Fernando et al. 2000; Fleisher et al. 2001).
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Captive elephants in Sri Lanka are managed through subjugation, with chaining and liberal use of the ankus.
“Captive elephants in Sri Lanka are also managed through subjugation, with chaining and liberal use of the ankus (Fernando et al., 2011”
From Continuing challenges of elephant captivity: the captive environment, health issues, and welfare implications (2024) · cites this paper as Fernando et al., 2011
Government regulations are often inadequate to protect elephant welfare or have not been effectively implemented or enforced.
“Unfortunately, government regulations are often inadequate to protect elephant welfare or have not been effectively implemented or enforced (Fernando et al., 2011;Bansiddhi et al., 2018;Baker & Winkler, 2020”
From Continuing challenges of elephant captivity: the captive environment, health issues, and welfare implications (2024) · cites this paper as Fernando et al., 2011
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Cites
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- Authors
- Fernando, P., Jayewardene, J., Prasad, T., Hendavitharana, W., & Pastorini, J.
- Venue
- International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources
- Publisher
- International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources
- Published
- 2011
- Volume
- 35
- Pages
- 93-103
- OpenAlex
- W2395456306
- Cited by
- 66
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 5 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 1.69
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.zora.uzh.ch
- Licence
- other-oa
- Locations
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich)
- Gajah
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Wildlife-Road Interactions and Conservation
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Rangeland and Wildlife Management
- Keywords
- Asian elephant, Sri Lanka, elephant conservation, human-elephant conflict, genetic diversity, population density, human population density
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