About the Authors

Lucy E. King

Contributed equally to this work with: Lucy E. King, Joseph Soltis

lucy.king@zoo.ox.ac.uk

Affiliations Animal Behaviour Research Group, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, Save the Elephants, Nairobi, Kenya

Joseph Soltis

Contributed equally to this work with: Lucy E. King, Joseph Soltis

Affiliation Education and Science, Disney's Animal Kingdom, Bay Lake, Florida, United States of America

Iain Douglas-Hamilton

Affiliations Animal Behaviour Research Group, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, Save the Elephants, Nairobi, Kenya

Anne Savage

Affiliation Education and Science, Disney's Animal Kingdom, Bay Lake, Florida, United States of America

Fritz Vollrath

Affiliations Animal Behaviour Research Group, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, Save the Elephants, Nairobi, Kenya

Competing Interests

Save the Elephants has received funding from The Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund (DWCF), which helps scientists all over the world study animals and their habitats, working with qualified and respected nonprofit organizations on community conservation, education, science and environmental policies. The Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund is supported by Guest contributions, merchandise initiatives, special guest programs, and Disney's Office of Corporate Outreach. The DWCF ensures that 100 percent of the funds are directed to U.S. 501c3 nonprofit organizations to support worldwide conservation. The DWCF has supported the work of researchers working with Save the Elephants, via the U.S. nonprofit Wildlife Conservation Network, for many years to help engage communities in Samburu and ultimately protect elephants. Joseph Soltis' research in Samburu is funded independently of the DWCF, from the operating budget of the Animal Programs Administration at Disney's Animal Kingdom (“Cast Conservation Programs”). The DWCF does not support Joseph Soltis or any Cast Conservation Program. DWCF is not involved in the conception, direction, implementation, analysis, interpretation or publication of this research.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: LEK JS IDH AS FV. Performed the experiments: LEK JS. Analyzed the data: LEK JS. Wrote the paper: LEK JS IDH AS FV.