WATER EXPERIMENT: FIRST STEP BEFORE A SOFT RELEASE INTO THE WILD

Photograph by Jimmy Beunardeau

CAN WE RELEASE ELEPHANTS INTO THE WILD? 

One of the first pressing questions to answer is: can captive Asian elephants can find water and foodwithout human intervention?

With this first experiment, we wanted to see what water sources they naturally aim for, what food they seek out, and how they behave with one another in a non captive environment. To conduct this experiment we collected data on the behaviors of each elephant following a behavioral ethogram.

We used this information to categorize our elephants to see which elephants are suitable for release into the wild. Our rewilding project will focus on those who showed strong survival skills during the experiment. Meanwhile, those that were overly stressed by the experiment will remain at the Center with the best welfare possible and continue to socialise.

The Elephant Conservation Center 
Nam Tien Lake, Sayaboury district, Lao PDR
Manthatoulat Road (Mekong riverside) Ban Pakham, Luang Prabang, Lao PDR
Tel : +856-20-96590665
Email: marketing@elephantconservationcenter.com
social media (Facebook and Instagram).
Website: https://www.elephantconservationcenter.com/