Does climate change affect wildlife in Udawalawe?

Climate change negatively affects the wildlife around Udawalawe, mainly because rainfall patterns keep changing and long droughts are becoming more intense. These changes disrupt the usual timing for food and water to become available, and that is really hard on big herbivores such as elephants.

When the monsoon becomes erratic, the Udawalawe Reservoir does not get refilled properly, and the seasonal waterholes also suffer. As a result, the vegetation does not grow as it should, so elephants, along with other animals, need to move beyond protected areas to find nourishment. This then increases human-elephant conflicts in nearby farmlands, in a way that becomes harder to manage.