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Why some elephants take more risks around people than others

Elephants that live near farms are more daring than their deep-forest counterparts, and that behavior could be the key to helping people and elephants get along.

That's the central finding of new research by CUNY Graduate Center alumna Sarah Jacobson (Ph.D. '24, Psychology), published in . Working with Professor Joshua Plotnik (GC/Hunter, Psychology), Jacobson found that wild elephants on the edge of agricultural land in Thailand were more curious and exploratory when presented with unfamiliar objects than elephants living in protected forests.

The paper is a chapter of Jacobson's dissertation, completed under Plotnik's mentorship. By showing how elephants' behavior shifts across different landscapes, the study adds important insight into how wild animals adapt to human-dominated environments and why some may take more risks than others.

"Understanding why some elephants are more willing to take risks to engage with humans in habitats where they share food and other resources may help in the development of more effective conflict mitigation methods," said Plotnik, who directs the Comparative Cognition for Conservation Lab at Hunter College.

"We conducted this study because we wanted to learn more about how individual elephants differ," Jacobson said. "We were interested in the characteristics of those elephants who are leaving the forest to spend time close to people, which can cause a lot of problems."

The study compared elephant responses to new objects—such as cattle brushes and firehoses—in two different settings: a remote forest sanctuary and a landscape adjacent to farmland. The elephants living near people were more likely to investigate and interact with the objects, showing higher levels of what researchers call neophilia, or attraction to novelty.

This behavior may give those elephants an edge in finding high-calorie resources like crops, but it also increases the risk of dangerous encounters with humans. As elephants lose habitat to development, they often seek food in villages and fields, leading to conflict with local communities.

Jacobson also explored whether curiosity and exploration were stable personality traits in elephants by comparing individual responses to multiple objects. But too few elephants encountered both objects to draw firm conclusions about consistency in behavior.

Still, the findings offer a powerful glimpse into how animal behavior is shaped by the environment. They suggest that individual differences in curiosity may help elephants adapt, but at a cost.

The research builds on Plotnik's long-standing work at the intersection of animal cognition and conservation. His lab aims to translate scientific understanding of animal minds into practical tools for protecting endangered species like the Asian elephant. Work conducted by the lab was recently featured on CBS's in a segment about human-elephant conflict in Thailand.

"I feel fortunate to have been able to work on a research project that can help both people and elephants as part of my dissertation at the Graduate Center," Jacobson said.

"I look forward to seeing more results from the Comparative Cognition for Conservation Lab's research about elephant personality traits and the current work to integrate this behavioral knowledge into novel ways to reduce negative interactions between elephants and people."