ASIAN ELEPHANT

Scientific name: Elephas maximus
Local name: Hatti

Elephants are the largest terrestrial animal alive in the earth. During Pleistocene era eleven forms of elephants lived in this world. They extended the range to every continent of the world except Australia and its associated Islands. Today just two species are found. The species Loxodonta africana thrives in Africa and Elephas maximus inhabits Asia. They are generally referred to as African and Asian elephants respectively.

The African elephant is today found in 34 countries and the Asian is found in only 13 namely: India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, China, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The height of an elephant is generally estimated by measuring the circumference of the print of its fore foot. In general twice the circumference gives the approximate height of the elephant at the shoulder.

Elephants in Nepal

In Nepal wild elephants inhabit the narrow strip of forests in the terai plain covering approximately 2500 km2. Out of this, 1600 km2 is under protected area management. In this belt, the main herd is found in Parsa Wildlife Reserve, Suklaphanta Wildlife Reserve and in Bardia National Park. The only reproducing herd of wild elephant is found in Parsa, east of Chitwan however in Chitwan National Park, only a few elephants stray in from Parsa. There are stray records of wild elephants in Koshi-tappu, Sunsari and Biratnagar as well. There is a trans-boundary herd that moves from Dudhwa National Park into Suklaphanta, although the exact migration corridors are not known.

In eastern Nepal two herds of resident elephants are identified. The big herd concentrates close to Bahundangi VDC, Jhapa whereas small herd has been roaming from Jhapa to Udaypur district. Beside these resident herds several migrant herd from neighboring country India frequent this region for a short duration it is the time of conflict costing many lives and property damages.

The decline of elephant population in Nepal did not occur until the twentieth century as in hindu mythology, elephants are worshipped as a symbol of god Ganesh. Previously a forest of low land terai was famous for its abundant wildlife stretched the entire length of Nepal. The habitat of wild elephant had been destroyed repeated by different developmental and socio-political activities throughout the history in the narrow belt of terai.

The wild elephant has been listed as endangered species in Nepal by the National parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1973. Asian wild elephant are among the largest mammals listed in CITES Appendix 1 by World Conservation Union.Area Number
Bardia National Park 50-60
Chitwan National Park and Parsa Wildlife Reserve 25-25
Suklaphanta Wildlife Reserve 11-27
Forest of eastern region 5-15
Total 91-127

Source: DNPWC, 2001

Conflict

People had destroyed the habitat of elephant to accommodate its growing population and to fulfill desire. Due to lack of foodstuffs in the forest elephants come to the village to raid the crops, destroy properties and sometimes kill humans. Such destruction by wild tusker is the serious conservation issue in our country. Conflicts between wild elephants and the people occur to a varying extent throughout its range.

Study from the past revealed that elephants with wounds caused by poachers or villagers but not serious enough to cause death, but weakened, were found to be feeding on crop and other easily available food, thus increasing human wildlife conflict. The crop raiding may have been a result of the lower social status of the animals due to injury.

Major threats to Elephants:

Habitat destruction and illegal hunting are the major threats in the survival of this species. Elephants are hunted down for its tusks and tail hair but in rare cases they are also hunted down for its meat. Tusks are used to make artifacts and ornaments while elephant tail hair is popularly worn in gold bracelets as charms and are also used as a embedding in wedding rings.

After the collapse of ivory markets in Europe and the USA the final frontier for ivory is Asia especially Japan and China. And it is well documented that the majority of African and Asian ivory from all over the world finds it way into markets in Asia illegally. The illegal trade of elephant hair has also been on the rise in Nepal in recent times along with other wildlife products.

When wild elephant was hunted down by the poachers for its tusk it was found that they cut down its tail for its hair. Just 60-70 hairs grow at the end of the tail forming tuft. Even such tail hairs are found plucked out from domestic elephants by its owner for extra income and in rare cases it had also been observed that the keeper himself cut down the tail to obtain this tuft of hair if it don’t allowed him to pluck it out.

WCN’S EFFORT IN CONSERVATION OF WILD ELEPHANT
Since its establishment, Wildlife Conservation Nepal has been working for the protection and conservation of protected animals like elephants by supporting enforcement agencies like national parks and district forest authorities through critical information leading to arrests of poachers and traders. WCN also carries out campaigns, training to concerned enforce