Elephants Found to Be Increasingly Isolated Leading to Fractured Social Networks

UC San Diego researchers tracking over 440 Asian elephants in Sri Lanka over 12 years found that population decline has fractured their social networks, causing the highly social animals to become increasingly isolated in smaller groups. As elephant populations decreased through deaths and emigration, the communities crossed a critical "tipping point" where their traditionally large, densely connected social structures collapsed into fragmented networks. The researchers warn this social breakdown threatens the species' future, since elephants depend on group cooperation for food access and caring for young.