Science Café: Decoding the Lives of Sri Lanka’s Elephants

Grab a bite from the Daily Planet Café and join host Chris Smith for our monthly Science Café. Gather with other curious minds for an informal presentation and conversation about current science topics with guest experts. The Daily Planet Café is open 5–8pm with a full menu during the Science Café. Join us in-person or watch the livestream on YouTube. Tonight’s Topic In Sri Lanka’s North Central Province, expanding agriculture is increasing overlap between human settlements and elephant habitat. Elephants that forage on farm crops face retaliation from farmers protecting their livelihoods, making Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC) one of the region’s most pressing conservation challenges. Yet not all elephants engage in crop raiding, and little is known about the characteristics that influence the likelihood of crop raiding. This talk presents ongoing research examining behavioral and genetic variation within the North Central Province’s elephant population to identify factors associated with conflict. This work aims to inform evidence-based conservation strategies and support coexistence between local communities and elephants. Tonight’s Expert Julia Brzezicki is a second year PhD student in the Department of Biological Sciences at North Carolina State University under the supervision of Dr. Bruce A. Schulte. She is from the Buffalo, New York region, and she earned her BSc in biology from SUNY Geneseo and her MSc in biology from Western Kentucky University where her thesis focused on the behavioral variation of Asian elephants in Sri Lanka. Julia is a recipient of a Fulbright award to support her continued research and collaborations in Sri Lanka. She has been studying elephants for four years and she seeks to integrate ecological, behavioral, and genetic research to support the development of local sustainable elephant conservation initiatives in Sri Lanka. Photo Credit: By Sumudusoyza007 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons