2019-07-01_neScholar

of first reproduction: 15-16 years,

birth intervals: between 2.5 and 8

years); and only moderate amounts

of genetic variation within the species

indicative of a small long-term

effective population size.

The Asian elephant require large

amount of water, more than 225

liters per day. This requirement

necessitates their closeness to a

fresh water source. Climate change

with its impact on the water cycle

restricts the availability of fresh water

throughout the year, thereby acting

as an important factor regulating the

spatio-temporal dynamics of Asian

Elephant populations including

their daily activities, migration and

reproduction. In fact, mating is

strongly correlated with rains, thus,

in many areas, birth rate increases

drastically in the post-monsoon

season. In the present scenario,

marked seasonal variability is

observed in precipitation across Asia,

with discrete wet and dry periods

largely influenced by monsoon.

It is projected that the annual

precipitation will be significantly

higher in wet periods and will decline

drastically in dry periods in South

and Southeast Asia. These climatic

changes will result in frequent

incidences of floods and droughts in

the region.

It is estimated that climate is going

to be much warmer with the frequent

occurrence of extreme heat events in

South and Southeast Asia. Hence,

the heat stress is expected to move

animal to regions having preferable

environmental conditions. A recent

study based on Asian elephants in

India and Nepal indicates that the

climate change will shift the range

of Asian elephant towards higher

elevations in Himalayas along

valleys with higher availability of

water. Climate changes will mediate

this relocation of species directly

by impacting temperature and

availability of water, and indirectly

through additional modifications in

the habitat. Asian elephants will

suffer higher mortalities due to higher

temperatures, drought and scarcity of

forage in their habitats. With increase

in temperatures, freshwater supplies

will dwindle, infectious diseases

will spread faster and resultant

‘heat stroke’ can kill elephants.

Youngest elephants, the calves are

especially vulnerable to temperature

extremes. Adult male elephants

become aggressive periodically, and

environmental changes can increase

stress levels increasing the frequency

of these cycles.

Other threats for the existence of

Asian elephants include habitat

loss, degradation and fragmentation

that also increase human-elephant

conflicts. Poaching, though on

a smaller scale for Asian species

compared to the African species, also

influence the population size. This

is largely attributed to the fact that

only some male Asian elephants have

tusks while most of the females are

without tusks.

In Asia, crop raiding has been

identified as the main form of

human-elephant conflicts. Elephants

sometimes prefer to raid crops

because of their higher nutritive

value and palatability. But the

incidences of crop raiding increases

in highly fragmented habitats. These

conflicts results in loss of human

lives and property as well as elephants

populations. According to World

Wildlife Fund, 100 humans (in some

years it may be 300 people) and

40-50 elephants are killed during

crop raiding every year in India

alone. Also, elephants cause damage

to crop and property ranging from

a few thousand dollars to millions

of dollars. Hence, for the viable

conservation of Asian elephants,

steps should be taken to resolve these

conflicts. These include use of

chilli and tobacco-based deterrents,

establishing bee colonies at the

borders to keep elephants out of

fields; changing farming practices-

making farms easier to defend;

growing crops that elephants do not

like; education; and improving oil

and palm plantation practices as in

Malaysia and Indonesia.

Several measures have been taken

at the community level to reduce

the human-elephant conflicts. This

problem has been tackled in Hosur

Forest Division of Tamil Nadu by

educating villagers through folklore

theatre “VeedhiNatakam” with

the objective to teach mitigation

techniques and to promote human

elephant coexistence.

Implementation of early warning

system has also helped to resolve

human-elephant conflicts in the

Valparai plateau, a landscape

matrix of tea, coffee, and rainforest

fragments in the Annamalai hills,

Tamil Nadu. This has been made

possible through several science

based approaches. The information

about the location details of

elephants obtained from Forest

Department is displayed as a ‘crawl’

on local cable TV channel after 5

PM every day. The text messages

in both English and Tamil about

the elephant presence and their

movements within plantations has

been send out to people residing

within 2 km radius of the location

of elephant herds on their mobile

phones through bulk SMS service.

For those, who cannot read,

recorded voice messages regarding

elephant alert has been sent on the

registered mobile numbers. Timely

dissemination of the information

has helped villagers to take adequate

precautions to avoid encounters

with the elephants and protect their

property. Additionally, mobile

operated LED-light alert indicators

were installed in 24 locations to

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