The Complexity of Foraging and its Role in Elephant Well-being

This chapter presents behavioural and ethnographic insights into the foraging habits of free-roaming Asian elephants living in close relationship with Indigenous Karen communities in Thailand. For elephants, a socially complex and wide-ranging species, foraging involves much more than fulfilling basic nutritional needs; it is a cognitive process intertwined with social interactions, decision making and movement. Through a detailed examination of foraging behaviour, we argue that access to natural foraging opportunities is critical to elephant well-being. Drawing on foraging observations from elephants in northern and western Thailand, this chapter highlights how foraging behaviours are complex and must be understood within a broader – multispecies – ecological and social context. Furthermore, we present ethnographic insights from Karen communities, demonstrating that the knowledge and observations of local mahouts closely align with scientific data on elephant foraging.