Sri Lankan Elephant

The Sri Lankan elephant population is now largely restricted to a few National Parks and Nature Reserves. Udawalawe National Park, Yala National Park, Wilpattu National Park and Minneriya National Park are prime locations for spotting elephants.

Elephants are restricted mostly to the lowlands in the dry zone where they are still fairly widespread in north, south, east, north-western, north-central and south-eastern Sri Lanka. With the exception of a small remnant population in the Peak Wilderness Sanctuary elephants are restricted mostly to the lowland in the dry zone but are absent from the wet zone of the country. With the exception of Wilpattu and Ruhuna National Parks, all other protected areas are less than 1,000 km2 (390 sq mi) in extent. Many areas are less than 50 km2 (19 sq mi), and hence not large enough to accommodate the entire home ranges of elephants that use them. In the Mahaweli Development Area, protected areas such as Wasgomuwa National Park, Flood Plains National Park, Somawathiya National Park, and Trikonamadu Nature Reserve have been linked resulting in an overall area of 1,172 km2 (453 sq mi) of contiguous habitat for elephants. Nevertheless, about 65% of the elephants range extends outside protected areas