Asian Elephant chasing a photographer in India
Ksuryawanshi CC BY-SA 3.0signal the presence of elephants and
their movements within a 1 km
radius of each light. To strengthen
the elephant information system
further, a bus broadcast system that
make voice announcements about
location of elephant between 5 to
10 pm at regular intervals, has also
been started on bus plying across
the entire Valparai plateau. Rapid
Response Team and Helpline are
other measures taken up by the
Tamil Nadu Forest Department.
These efforts gradually reduce the
number of human fatalities from
three persons per year between 1994
and 2002 (prior to early warning
system) to 1 person per year between
2003 and 2016. This could be due
to the fact that many people were
taking precautions because of early
warning signals to avoid encounters
with elephants. This success story
exemplified the fact the human-
elephant coexistence is possible.To avert the extinction of Asian
elephants, habitat restoration
measures should be taken to improve
their habitat quality including
design of movement corridors
to enable dispersal of elephants.
Anthropogenic pressures within
elephant’s habitats should be
reduced by putting a check on land
use changes, and creating core and
buffer zones to give elephants their
own space and increase connectivity
between fragmented habitats to
facilitate their movement. Protecting
the habitats of elephants, which are
spread across large areas, facilitates
the survival of other species also
inhabiting these habitats that makeelephant an “umbrella species”.
Asian elephant conservation measure
should emphasize on securing fresh
water; maintaining and enhancing
good quality and connected habitat;
checking the spread of invasive
plant species; proper monitoring of
elephant populations for diseases
and other causes of mortality; and
resolving human-elephants conflicts.
Asian Elephants have been considered
sacred for centuries in Asia owing to
its cultural and religious importance.
They are also playing important
ecological functions in their habitat.
If the elephant goes extinct, then
the factors such as climate change
and diminishing forest cover that
led to its extinction, will also affect
multitude of other species and us
human population as well.neScholar 0 vol 4 0 issue 4 29
ASIAN ELEPHANT I NATURE