Habitat selection and the change in distribution of asian elephants in Mengyang Protected Area, Yunnan, China

• Published in: Mammal research Vol. 53; no. 4; pp. 365 - 374
• Main Authors: Lin, Liu, Feng, Limin, Pan, Wenjing, Guo, Xianming, Zhao, Jianwei, Luo, Aidong, Zhang, Li
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2008
• Subjects: Animal Ecology; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Evolutionary Biology; Fish & Wildlife Biology & Management; Life Sciences; Zoology; conservation; road ecology; poaching; human-wildlife conflict; logistic regression; transformation; habitat alteration
• ISSN: 2199-2401; 2199-241X
• DOI: 10.1007/BF03195197

Elephants were confined to Mengyang Protected Area in China and their distribution range had reduced greatly compared to past records. A preliminary study of habitat selection by Asian elephants
Elephas maximus
Linnaeus, 1758 and their distribution was conducted in Mengyang Protected Area and its surrounds using site visits and transect surveys from July 2003 to December 2006. Although no variable significantly influenced their habitat selection, elephants still showed preference for altitudes between 900 and 1200 m, gradients <30°, and orientations to the south-east, south and south-west. Human activities, including habitat transformation and degradation, disturbance by large infrastructure and poaching were considered to be the main factors inducing elephant distribution changes.