UNDERSTANDING ELEPHANT BEHAVIOR: A NOVEL APPROACH TO MITIGATING HUMAN-ELEPHANT CONFLICT IN KANCHANABURI, THAILAND 3. ELEPHANT PERSONALITY PROFILING AS SCALABLE, EVIDENCE-BASED MITIGATION

THE GOALS OF THIS PROJECT ARE TO COMPLETE ELEPHANT PERSONALITY PROFILES IN AND AROUND SALAKPRA WILDLIFE SANCTUARY, ASSESS THE EFFICACY OF THE TARGETED PERSONALITY HEC MITIGATION METHODOLOGY, AND DEMONSTRATE THE SCALABILITY OF HEC PERSONALITY-BASED MITIGATION IN TWO COMPLETELY NOVEL LOCATIONS WITH NOVEL ELEPHANTS: CHANTABURI AND CHACHOENGSAO, THAILAND.

THE OBJECTIVES ARE AS FOLLOWS: 1) IDENTIFY INDIVIDUAL ELEPHANTS IN THE SALAKPRA LANDSCAPE 2) CONTINUE DATA COLLECTION ON PERSONALITY AND COGNITION IN ELEPHANTS LIVING IN AND AROUND SALAKPRA 3) DETERMINE THE EFFICACY OF OLFACTORY DETERRENTS AND HOW THEY CAN BE INTEGRATED INTO THE PERSONALITY-TARGETED MITIGATION PLAN 4) PILOT AND TEST THE TPD USING A SYSTEMATIC BEFORE DURING TEST DESIGN ACROSS MULTIPLE SEASONS 5) ASSESS THE EFFICACY OF A NON-TARGETED PERSONALITY HEC MITIGATION TOOL (NTPD) IN MPS 6) ASSESS THE EFFICACY OF THE TPD AND THE NTPD IN NOVEL VILLAGES WITH KNOWN AND UNKNOWN ELEPHANTS AROUND SALAKPRA 7) EVALUATE THE TPD NTPD AS A SCALABLE HEC MITIGATION METHOD ACROSS LANDSCAPES 8) MAINTAIN AND EXPAND CROSS-CULTURAL MENTORSHIP INITIATIVE BETWEEK U.S.

AND THAI STUDENTS 9) HIRE, TRAIN AND SUPPORT THAI AND AMERICAN RESEARCH STAFF AND STUDENTS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RESEARCH 10) PROMOTE EDUCATION AND SUPPORT OF THAI RANGERS AND VILLAGERS THROUGH THE