Dear nature lovers,

Greetings from oikos !

The Indian Elephant (Elephas maximus), an intelligent, social, & largest land mammal is having special place in Indian culture. It is one of the three sub-species of Asian elephant, & is native to mainland Asia. There are around 30000 wild elephants in India. They have also been captive in India for 4000 years for various reasons like religious ceremonies, war, status symbol, tourism, work & even entertainment, the captive population is around 3500

It is a mega-herbivore found in mixed deciduous, dry deciduous, dry thorn and evergreen forests, scrub, floodplains & grassland habitats. The male can weigh up to 5400 kg, with maximum 3.2 m high at shoulder. Being so large, they require huge amount of food up to 240 kg of plant material and around 80 to 100 liters of water per day. Owing to these high food requirements for all family members of a herd, they require large areas and have a set movement pattern in their home range for food as per seasons & plant availability. This movement also helps the areas to regenerate naturally.

Elephants have a close knit family structure. Generally large groups are led by an old female (matriarch) and have females of all ages, calves and immature males. Adult males are not a part of herds as they are solitary and associate with groups only for mating. Some research has shown that they can communicate over 4 km as well.

Their movement pattern includes large natural areas and corridors and this knowledge is passed on to next generations. With increasing land use change, Elephants’ habitats are shrinking and changing within one generation of an elephant. As the historical migration routes are being changed to non-forest uses, conflict with humans for food & space is increasing and claiming life of both the species. Poaching for tusks is another threat, but it has substantially reduced over years with strict policies under Project Elephant.

Regards,

Ketaki & Manasi

With Team oikos !