Animals living in heterogeneous landscapes are often faced with making a trade-off between maximizing foraging success and avoiding risk. Using high-resolution GPS-tracking data, this study explored the fine-scale movement patterns and risk sensitivity of crop-raiding African elephants, Loxodonta africana, in the anthropogenic landscape of Tsavo, Kenya. We analysed patterns in the speed and tortuosity of elephant movements over the 24 h surrounding crop-raiding events and compared them with those of nonraiding elephants during corresponding periods. Crop-raiding elephants moved faster and straighter (less tortuously) with closer temporal proximity to farmland, which we argue reflects their increased intensity of risk avoidance behaviours in response to approaching humans. Once inside farmland, elephants appeared to reduce movements associated with risk avoidance to forage intensively on crops, decreasing their speed and reducing the likelihood of moving in straight lines while crop raiding. These results highlight trade-offs in the fine-scale movement patterns of elephants living in anthropogenic landscapes with differing levels of habitat quality and exposure to humans, providing new insight into how they perceive the risks associated with crop raiding.

中文翻译：

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运动曲折和速度揭示了非洲大象对农作物袭击的权衡

生活在异质景观中的动物经常面临在最大化觅食成功和避免风险之间的权衡。本研究使用高分辨率 GPS 跟踪数据，探索了在肯尼亚察沃的人为景观中袭击农作物的非洲象 Loxodonta Africana 的精细运动模式和风险敏感性。我们分析了围绕农作物袭击事件的 24 小时内大象运动的速度和曲折模式，并将它们与相应时期非袭击大象的行为进行了比较。在时间上更接近农田的情况下，袭击农作物的大象移动得更快、更直（不那么曲折），我们认为这反映了它们为应对接近人类而增加的风险规避行为强度。一旦进入农田，大象似乎减少了与避免风险相关的运动，以便在作物上密集觅食，降低它们的速度并减少在作物袭击时直线移动的可能性。这些结果突出了生活在具有不同栖息地质量和人类接触水平的人为景观中的大象的精细运动模式的权衡，为他们如何看待与作物袭击相关的风险提供了新的见解。