Forest elephants at a Congo Basin watering hole.
A new study suggests that forest elephants in Central Africa are under siege from road construction that has frightened them from roaming through the woods that have been their home for at least thousands of years.
Researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society say they have discovered that elephants have learned to associate roads in the Congo Basin with poaching and other dangers, and now avoid crossing them at all costs.
Only one of the 28 pachyderms tagged with a GPS collar crossed a road outside a protected area, and it did so at 14 times its normal walking speed.
"Forest elephants are basically living in fear of their lives in prisons created by roads," said Dr. Stephen Blake, the study's lead author.
"They are roaming around the woods like frightened mice rather than tranquil formidable giants of their forest realm."
Photo: Wildlife Conservation Society