Seasonal variation of feeding patterns and food selection by crop-raiding elephants in Zimbabwe

Elephants and humans are increasingly coming into conflict because of the conversion of elephant habitat into agricultural areas. In order to identify trends that influence raiding behaviour, the nutritional makeup of food items consumed by crop-raiding elephants over a 2-year period were analysed and a trigger for crop raiding was identified. The point at which the quality of wild grasses declines below the quality of crop species corresponded to the movement of bull elephants out of a protected area and into fields. This finding may have wider implications for developing predictive models of elephant/human interactions.