“We can probably all relate to the feeling of social isolation brought about, paradoxically, with the advent of digital communications that seem to remove the physical constraints of needing to be in the same place at the same time,” said de Silva. “But for many social species, which includes ourselves as much as elephants, we have to remember that social connectivity is very much a matter of sharing space and building relationships throughout our lives. Crucially, in order to have resilient communities, we need to be able to replace the relationships that are lost over time.”

Many elephant populations are already impacted through deaths resulting from poaching and conflicts with humans. Other contributing factors may be disruptions in habitat connectivity and less food available for the elephants as ecological conditions change across the 119-square-mile park and surroundings.

The new social fracturing structure observed by the scientists may not be easily repaired, the researchers warn.

“In general, we need to be more aware of these types of tipping points where we see sudden shifts after changes have been slowly building up,” said Madsen. “Once we move past the tipping point, it’s much harder to go back to previous states.”