Is the Serengeti safe? Ask an elephant. - Africa Geographic Blog

"They're avoiding people." Elephants feel safer inside the protected Serengeti National Park than in nearby areas where trophy hunting is permitted. Samples of their dung analyzed stress hormones and not surprisingly, dung samples where legal or illegal hunting occurs showed higher levels of stress hormones! 'Elephants' stress hormones, whether inside or outside the park, mirror the amount of human activity. "Somehow," says Røskaft, "elephants must ‘know' when they're in an area that could be a risk."'