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Male African Bush Elephants Moved Farther During the Dry Season in W–Arly–Pendjari

An aerial view of an African bush elephant herd in Pendjari National Park
Research · Ecology

Male and female African bush elephants (Loxodonta africana) in the transboundary W–Arly–Pendjari complex differed in how far they moved between seasons. The study followed 22 GPS-tracked elephants — seven males and 15 females — between 2019 and 2024 across Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger.

The researchers compared seasonal displacement, home-range size and spatial overlap, and examined how movement was related to water and recorded human–elephant conflict areas.

Males moved farther in the dry season, averaging 296 km compared with 252 km in the wet season

Males moved farther during the dry season, averaging 296 km compared with 252 km in the wet season. Females did not show a corresponding seasonal difference.

Home-range size told a different story. Although male ranges were slightly larger in the dry season and female ranges slightly larger in the wet season, those seasonal differences were not statistically supported. The greater dry-season displacement of males therefore did not mean that their overall home ranges became clearly larger.

Females showed stronger spatial cohesion

Range overlap was greatest among females during the wet season and lowest among males during the dry season. The authors interpret this as stronger spatial cohesion among females and greater spatial separation among males.

This distinction is biologically important: displacement describes how far elephants move through the landscape, while home-range size describes the overall area used and overlap describes how much individuals share the same space. The strongest seasonal signal in the study was male movement distance, not a change in total range area.

Water and human pressure were linked to movement

Elephant movement increased closer to water points and farther from recorded conflict zones and rivers. The authors conclude that both ecological resources and anthropogenic pressure shape movement in W–Arly–Pendjari, and that these effects differ between males and females.

Because the W–Arly–Pendjari complex spans three countries and several protected areas, the study provides a multi-year movement baseline for conservation planning across the wider transboundary system.

Sources and image credit

  1. Akpona et al. (2026) — Seasonal and environmental determinants of African elephant (Loxodonta africana) movement in the W-Arly-Pendjari complexPrimary peer-reviewed study in Journal for Nature Conservation, available online 13 January 2026; reports GPS telemetry from 22 elephants tracked from 2019 to 2024 and the sex-specific seasonal displacement result.
  2. Crossref DOI record for Akpona et al. (2026)DOI registry metadata used to verify the original online registration date of 13 January 2026.

Image: Michozounou Franck Wilfried — aerial view of an african bush elephant herd near Bali pond in Pendjari National Park, Benin; representative image from the study complex. Source: Wikimedia Commons. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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