Elephants craftier than thought: Animals don’t like fool moons when hunting for food

09:08 • 29.07.13
Science/tech

Elephants are craftier than we imagined - and carry out raids on crops when the nights are at their darkest, the Daily Mail reported.


Scientists have found that their foraging expeditions in Africa tend to vary with the lunar cycle.


They have found that fewer raids took place during a full moon - when farmers are more likely to spot the animals plundering their crops.


The amount of crop damage also fell during the full moon phase, the research in and around Tanzania’s Mikumi National Park revealed.


Five villages on the park’s northern boundary were selected for the British research, which recorded examples of elephants plundering crops being grown close to and within human settlements.


Co-author of the study Dr Rachel Grant, lecturer in animal behaviour at Anglia Ruskin University, said: ‘Our results support the belief that elephants alter their behaviour to reduce the risks of encountering humans.’


She said the fact they raid crops ‘almost exclusively’ at night indicates they only go near villages when they feel they are harder to discover.


Dr Grant said: ‘An elephant’s awareness of the higher risk of being detected on moonlit nights, because of the visual advantage gained by humans, could account for the changes in their behaviour during the lunar cycle and explain why elephants are less likely to venture close to villages during the full moon.
 

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