Elephant conflict in Sri Lanka: Dead and drastic measures required!

Elephant conflict in Sri Lanka: Dead and drastic measures required!

In Sri Lanka, the government has raised the alarm: the elephant conflict rages and has demanded almost 1,200 lives in the past ten years. Environment Minister Dammika Patabendi announced drastic measures in parliament to counteract this terrible development. Between 2015 and 2024, 1,195 people died from elephant attacks, while over 3,500 elephants lost their lives in the disputes. In January 2025 alone there were three other deaths among people and 43 elephants were killed. In view of the alarming situation, electric fences around villages are now to be built near protected areas to prevent future tragedies. In addition, more guards are intended to ensure the security of the residents, such as kosmo.at reported.

On the other side of the world, in Africa, new research shows that people lived in tropical rainforests surprisingly early, already 150,000 years ago. Archaeologists from the Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology found evidence that people lived not only in open terrain, but also under the dense tree tops of the rainforest. In particular, the finds on Sri Lanka show that human adaptability was much larger than previously assumed. At that time, people used the paths of large herbal knives such as elephants to safely navigate through the dense undergrowth. This findings about the development of man in different habitats, as in the jungle, have been published by an analysis in the specialist magazine Nature, as Tagesschau.de reported.

The elephant, a prominent inhabitant of the forest, becomes not only a symbol for current conflicts, but also to the bridge that connects us with the early people that survived in similar environments millennia ago. The challenges with which these people were confronted - poisonous plants, dangerous animals and the dense vegetation - seem comparable to the problems with which today's people in Sri Lanka have to fight in their conflicts with the elephants. This connection between the past and the present shows us how important it is to protect and adapt the habitat of the elephants and people in harmony