Applied Behavioural Ecology and Conservation

It might be hard to picture presence of wild boars (Sus scrofa) in a highly urbanized city such as Hong Kong. However, wild boars are more commonly found in crowded urban areas according to news and reports received by HK AFCD (Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation D...

We have been analysing African elephant vocalisations to determine whether they could be used by males to recognise one another. African elephants produce rumbles – long, low frequency sounds that elephants use in various contexts (see image below). We recorded these v...

Tiger Tops Tharu Lodge is where our lab currently conducts all our Asian elephant field research. Located in Southern Nepal on the border of Chitwan National Park, this eco-lodge is promoting sustainable eco-tourism with Asian elephants through encouraging tourists to...

We have been conducting exciting new research on human-elephant interactions in captive settings. RA

Sagarika Phalke explains.

The Asian elephant shares a long and intertwined relationship with humans. Elephants have been employed in humans use for almost 4000 years. The...

My book was published on the 2nd April and I'm really excited to be able to share it with people. It's about the lives of elephants, my experiences studying elephants and how we are similar and very different to elephants at the same time! It covers all the incredible...

We had a great Society for Conservation Biology congress in Malaysia.

PhD student Teresa Santos presented her research as a poster on connectivity and population genetics of savanna elephants.

I gave talk at our Symposium on how animal behaviour and conservation matter f...

It's exciting to have this paper come out in PNAS. I was part of a team including Josh Plotnik, Lydia Tiller, Dan Brubaker, Rachel Dale and Nicky Clayton, investigating the ability of elephants to distinguish between quantities of food using olfaction alone. The elepha...

I'm really pleased our paper on extracting morphometric data, age and musth status from survey photographs is out today in Frontiers in Zoology. It's the first data paper of several from my research in South Africa with Elephants Alive!

PhD Studentship Available

I have a position available for a student wishing to pursue a PhD in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Hong Kong on the ecology of elephants.

Elephants are large-bodied, long-lived and socially complex mammals. One of my res...