This past Aug. 17 would have been just another ordinary day for the elephants of Sri Lanka: feeding, drinking, resting and, for some, raiding nearby farms. But for the staff of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) and thousands of volunteers, it was the start of a busy weekend as they carried out the task of counting the country’s elephants — the first such count in 13 years.

Equipped with rations for three days, some volunteers stationed in remote locations climbed makeshift treehouses overlooking watering holes, while others found safer spots where they still had a clear view of the Asian elephants (Elephas maximus). Each participant was given a data sheet to fill out. The DWC employed a method known as “waterhole counting,” which gives a rough gauge of elephant abundance from the number of elephants observed visiting watering holes to drink.

To read the full story visit https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/sri-lanka-completes-first-elephant-census-since-2011-amid-uncertainty/