# Despite Potential Risks African Elephants Do Not Always Avoid Mountaineering

## TL;DR

African elephants mostly avoid steep slopes but will climb them when necessary, even though it's risky and tiring.

## Contribution

Long-term positional data reveals nuanced slope use patterns in African elephants, challenging assumptions about their strict avoidance of steep terrain.

## Key findings

- Elephants primarily used slopes <30°, with 95% of locations on such slopes.
- Breeding herds used slightly steeper slopes than bulls, but the difference was likely due to large sample size.
- Elephants climbed very steep slopes (>30°) in 5% of locations, showing they can mountaineer when needed.

## Abstract

As herbivores forage, they move across a wide range of topographical features. Yet, they tend to avoid terrain such as steep slopes where energetic costs of movement are high and there is a greater risk of falls and tumbles. Recent studies suggest that African elephants (
Loxodonta africana
) avoid steep slopes (e.g., > 15°). However, in reserves with undulating topography, elephants may have to use steep slopes to obtain food, especially when availability is limited in more gradual areas. To explore this, we investigated slope use by elephants in the Ithala Game Reserve, South Africa, where the topography varies greatly and ranges between 400 to 1400 masl. Using 8.5 years of positional data, we examined how slope use varied between herd types (14 breeding herds and 13 males), habitat type and season (wet vs. dry). Elephants were found primarily on slopes < 30° (i.e., 95% of the locations), while 67% of the locations were on slopes < 15°, and 52% on slopes < 10°. Breeding herds used steeper slopes (mean = 12.6° ± 0.08 SE) than bulls (mean = 12.0° ± 0.8 SE). In addition, habitat influenced slope use, with the steepest slopes used in woodlands and the most gradual used in built‐up areas and grasslands. However, these slope use differences were very small (i.e., 0.6° to 9.7°) and thus unlikely to be biologically meaningful. Rather, the ability to detect these slight differences was likely an artefact of our large sample size (N = 23,837 locations). Moreover, slope use did not vary between the wet and dry seasons. Nevertheless, 5% of all the elephant locations occurred on very steep slopes (i.e., > 30°) and 33% were on slopes > 15°, indicating that although they may prefer flat terrain, when required, elephants will mountaineer.

Recent studies have suggested that African elephants (
Loxodonta africana
) avoid steep slopes (e.g., > 15°) due to energetic costs of movement and the greater risk of falls and tumbles. Yet, using 8.5 years of positional data, we found that elephants in the Ithala Game Reserve, South Africa primarily used slopes < 30° (95% of the locations), while 67% of the locations were on slopes < 15°, and 52% on slopes < 10°. These results indicate that despite elephants apparently preferring flat terrain, when required, they will mountaineer.