Population Structure and Ecology of the African elephant ( Loxodonta africana , Blumenbach, 1797) in Chebera Churchura National Park, Ethiopia

Abstract An investigation on population structure and ecology of the African elephants ( Loxodonta africana ) was carried out in Chebera Churchura National Park, Ethiopia during the wet and dry seasons of 2020 –2021. Sample counts using distance sampling of the African elephants were carried out in an area of 1, 410 km 2 . The total population estimated was 756 individuals, and the mean population density estimated was 0.53/km 2 . Among these, females constituted 52.12% and males 36.07%. The remaining 11.8% of the population was young of both sexes. It was difficult to categorize the young into male and female in the field, as their primary sexual characteristics were not easily visible. Male to female sex ratio was 1.00:-1.42. Age structure was dominated by adults, which constituted 53.83% of the total population. Sub-adults comprised 19.11%, juveniles contributed 15.18% and calves accounted for 12.11% of the population. The herd size ranged from 1 to 149 individuals and the mean herd size during wet and dry seasons were 16.5 and 50.25, respectively. The African elephants were distributed in four habitat types: grassland, woodland, montane forest and riverine habitats in the study area. They were observed more in the riverine vegetation types during the dry season. Relative abundance of food resources, green vegetation cover and water availability in the area were the major factors governing their distribution in the present study area.