Our doctoral student wants to find answers

Focus on captive populations

Questions have long been raised around captive populations of wild species. For elephants, the social environment is essential both in the natural environment and in captivity, because it allows them to extract information and knowledge about their environment, routines, etc. Thus better understanding and forecasting the needs of the species and their behavior would make it possible to implement appropriate and effective management methods while taking into account all the players concerned, namely humans and elephants. Collaboration between fields such as academia, research and zoos aims to successfully manage reintroductions by understanding how animals learn from each other.

Essential link between healer-elephant

The elephant and the healer develop a relationship of trust which is crucial for having good living conditions. PhD student Annaëlle Surreault-Châble therefore wants to understand how this relationship can influence the learning of new behaviors in order to then create conflict mitigation strategies and manage captive populations and medical training.