Poaching major reason for elephant deaths in the Nilgiris in the last three decades: New Study

Tweet

A wild Asian Elephant in Western Ghats, South India

Veerappan may be long gone, but poaching still tops the list as the major reason for elephant mortality during the last three decades in the Nilgiris. Trying to untangle the hidden patterns of elephant mortality in the Nilgiris reported during the 33 year period between 1979 to 2011, a new study reveals that 40 percent of the total elephant deaths from the region during the period were due to poaching. 

Wild Elephants in the Nilgiris help seed dispersal of fruit bearing plants: reveals new study

Tweet

Elephant herds in Silent Valley National Park in Western Ghats of Kerala
(Photo Courtesy: N P Jayan)

Wild tuskers in Southern Western Ghats are just like birds. Not that they can fly, but like their winged friends, they play a crucial role in the seed dispersal of some plant species found in this rare biodiversity hotspot, says researchers who studied the seed dispersal role of elephants here.According to their study, Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) are important seed dispersing agents of some fruit bearing plants in the semi-deciduous, thorny forests of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, the oldest biosphere reserve in India which lies in the Western Ghats.

By examining the fruit seeds and remnants in elephant dung piles in the study areas, the researchers found that this biggest terrestrial animal plays a key role in the seed dispersal of at least eight different plant species found in the area like Acacia intsia (Twisted Acacia), Artocarpus heterophyllus (Jack Fruit), Bauhinia racemosa (Bidi Leaf Tree), Grewia hirsuta (Kukurbicha), Grewia tiliifolia (Dhaman), Mangifera indica (Mango), Tamarindus indica (Tamarind) and Ziziphus mauritiana (Indian jujube). Among these eight, Wild Tamarind and Twisted Acacia are the favorite fruit of the tuskers, since their presence was significantly more in the dung piles than the other six species, says the study which is published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa.

Earlier research in Asian and African forests have shown that elephants are a very effective seed dispersing agents. They devour huge amount of fruits and carry the seeds to long distances from the parent tree with their behavior of moving to wide-ranging areas. Moreover, seeds are defecated intact. It is also observed that the dung piles often provide a nutritious medium for seed germination.

Fruit Diet of the Pachyderms in the Nilgiris

The study has also revealed some interesting insights into the food habits of the wild elephants in Nilgiris. According to the researchers, elephants in the area consume more fruits during dry season when compared to the wet monsoon season. “Seeds and other fruit parts appeared in the dung piles significantly more frequently during the dry season than in the wet seasons”, says the study.

Moreover, tuskers prefer a fruity diet more in the thorny forests, than in a moist deciduous area, shows the results of the study. The study also confirms the sometimes notorious truth of the tuskers’ irresistible temptation for mango and jack fruits when they are in moist deciduous areas in NBR. Remnants of both of these fruits were frequently found in the dung piles from moist deciduous areas. Often, fruiting jack fruit trees are blamed for wild elephants raiding villages in the forest fringes of NBR.

However, pachyderms have dislikes for certain items in their fruits menu, says the study. Fruits of Z. mauritiana are less preferred by these animals, as indicated by the lower presence of these fruit remnants in the dung piles, despite the wide presence of the plant in the forests of NBR.

But don’t misunderstand that the wild elephants in Western Ghats consider fruits as their favorite item like their African and Malayan counter parts, reminds the researchers. Grass species like bamboo are the first preference for tuskers in these areas. Fruits are second or third in the list. “Elephants consume a lesser number of fruit species in the tropical dry forests of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve than in the rainforest habitats of Asia and Africa”, points out the study.

Asian Elephant Population in the Nilgiris

The study was carried out in Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary which is presently a Tiger Reserve, Nilgiri North, Sathiyamangalam and Coimbatore forest divisions, Bandipur Tiger Reserve and Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary which all come under Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.

According to the figures of the last elephant census, the area holds the one of the largest population of Asian elephants in the world, with approximately 4,500–5,800 individuals.

During the study period, the research team extensively followed elephant herds and bulls in these areas. According to the researchers, they have collected fresh dung piles whenever defecation was observed. On a total, they have examined 455 elephant dung piles during the whole study period.

Nagarajan Baskaran and Ajay A. Desai of  Bombay Natural History Society have co-authored the study.

claimtoken-527c8a6e69909

Texting facility to warn about elephant raids in forest-fringe villages developed

Tweet

Unexpected elephant raids are the worst nightmare of a forest-fringe village in India. But what if there is somebody to text you in advance that the jumbos are on the way? Researchers in Tamil Nadu claimed to have developed an intrusion detection system which can text forest officials an early warning if an elephant heard is moving towards a village. 

An Indian elephant in the wild: from Nagarhole National Park in Karnataka

Texting an elephant raid warning

According to S. J. Sugumar of Coimbatore Institute of Technology and R. Jayaparvathy of SSN College of Engineering Chennai, who developed the system, it functions by tracking the movement of the elephants electronically with the help of the vibrations on the ground created by the footfall of the animal. The system, according to the researchers, has to be implemented in “specific pockets identified based on the analytical results along the forest border areas where the elephants can intrude from the forest into human habitation.” It consists of a geophone string, threshold comparator with amplification module, embedded micro controller, GSM, and the power supply.

A research article published in Current Science journal about the system says that the footfall of the elephant produces a vibration in the ground which is sensed by the geophones that are buried underground. After sensing the vibration, the geophone will generate an electrical signal which will be amplified and compared with a set threshold value which is based on that generated by the footfall of a single elephant. If it exceeds the threshold, the system is designed to trigger the embedded controller to send a warning SMS with the help of the GSM transceiver to the forest officials. The geophones with a range of 120 square meters can cover a large area when used as a string of five geophones, claim the researchers.

Impact on human-elephant conflicts

Geo-phone as part of the elephant intrusion detection system
(Image Courtesy: Current Science)

The study was carried out in Coimbatore forest division which has recorded a number of cases of human-elephant conflict. According to official figures, there were 680 incidents of elephant intrusion into human habitat in 2011 while it was 844 in 2010 and 560 in 2009. In 2011, 14 people were killed in elephant attack while the figure was 16 in 2010 and 11 in 2009. In the conflict, there was a reported death of 10 elephants in 2011, 11 in 2010 and 12 in 2009. The implementation of the system is expected to help bring down the number of incidents of unexpected elephant raids and resulting causalities on both sides.

However, there are chances that other heavy animals walking over the buried geophones trigger false alarms. To avoid this confusion, the researchers have identified four different types of possible responses and have designed the system in such a way that false alarms are not triggered. According to the researchers, on field trials, the performance of the system to differentiate the vibrations generated by different species of animals was 91.25 percent. Analyzing the migration data of elephants in an area can be well used to predict the possibilities of intrusion almost precisely, say the researchers.

Interesting facts about National and State animal icons in India

Tweet

Short URL for the story: http://goo.gl/rDkul

What you find below is the answers to a quiz on National/State animals of India. 

Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus) :
The National Heritage animal of India, 

1.  Elephant. It was declared as the National heritage animal by MoEF on 21-10-2010.

2. River Dolphin. Also known as Gangetic dolphin, it has got the title from MoEF on 10-05-2010.

3.  Black Buck. Black Buck is the state animal for Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab.

4. Great Indian Bustard which is the state bird of Rajasthan. As of December 2012, it stays critically endangered

5. You guessed it correct that some island would be the answer. Butterfly fish which is the state animal of Laksha Dweep islands is the only non-mammal among the state animals in India.

6. Koel. Koel is the state bird for national capital region of Delhi and states of Jharkhand and Karnataka

7. Great Indian Bustard again. Unfortunately, authorities felt that GIB doesn’t have the looks to be a national bird. Moreover, the cultural context also backed peacocks candidature for the coveted title, apart from its beauty. Interestingly, Salim Ali was prophetic in suggesting GIB. The bird which was once distributed from Southern states of Karnataka to northern plains found its population plummeting down due to encroachment of grasslands in the coming years. Now it is on the verge of extinction with a critically endangered status in IUCN Red data list.  If GIB was declared as the national bird instead of pea cock, that would have helped it to survive the test of time and human greed.

8. Lion was India’s national animal till 1972. In 1973, tiger was re-notified as India’s national animal.

blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra).

9. Daman and Diu

10.  Mizoram and Manipur. Hume’s Bar Tailed pheasant which is also called Mrs. Hume’s Pheasant is the state bird for these two states.

11. Again an island. Andaman and Nicobar has declared Sea Cow as their state animal. Though it is an aquatic animal, it is a mammal.

12. Eight. Four Asiatic Lions standing back to back. It is interpreted that the four lions symbolize Power, Courage, Pride and Confidence. Apart from the four lions, the original emblem on the stupa depicts four more animals – one bull, one elephant, one bull and one horse as guardians of four directions. However, in the national emblem, as adopted by the government has three visible lions, one bull and one horse only.

STATE	ANIMAL	BIRD
Andhra Pradesh	Blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra)	Indian roller/blue Jay (Coracias benghalensis)
Arunachal Pradesh	Hoolock Gibbon (Bunopithecus hoolock hoolock)	Great Indian Hornbill (Buceros bicornis)
Assam	Indian One Horned Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis)	White winged wood duck (Asarcornis scutulata)
Bihar	Gaur (Bos frontalis / Bos gaurus)	Parakeet
Chhattisgarh	Wild Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis)	Hill myna (Gracula religiosa)
Goa	Gaur (Bos frontalis / Bos gaurus)	Ruby Throated Yellow bulbul (Brachypus gularis / Pycnonotus gularis)
Gujarat	Asiatic Lion (Panthera leo persica)	Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus rubber)
Haryana	Black Buck (Antilope cervicapra)	Black Patridge/ Black Francolin (Francolinus francolinus)
Himachal Pradesh	Snow Leopard (Uncia uncia/ Felis uncia)	Western Tragopan (Tragopan melanocephalus )
Jammu and Kashmir	Kashmir Stag (Cervus elaphus hanglu)	Black Necked Crane (Grus nigricollis)
Jharkhand	Indian Elephant  (Elephas maximus)	Koel  (Eudynamys scolopacea)
Karnataka	Spotted Deer (Axis axis)	Koel (Eudynamys scolopacea)
Kerala	Indian Elephant (Elephas maximus)	The Great Indian Hornbill (Buceros bicornis)
Madhya Pradesh	Swamp Deer  (Cervus duvaucelii)	Paradise fly catcher (Terpsiphone paradise)
Maharashtra	The giant Squirrel (Ratufa indica)	Great Imperial Pegion (Ducula aenea)
Manipur	Sangai (Cervus eldi eldi)	Hume’s Bar Tailed pheasant (Syrmaticus humiae)
Meghalaya	Clouded Leopard (Neofelis nebulosa)	Hill Myna (Gracula religiosa)
Mizoram	Serow (Naemorhedus sumatraensis)	Mrs. Hume’s Pheasant (Syrmaticus humiae)
Nagaland	Mithun (bos frontalis)	Blyth’s Tragopan (Tragopan blythii)
Odisha	Sambar (Cervus unicolor/ Rusa unicolor)	Indian roller ( blue Jay) (Coracias benghalensis)
Punjab	Blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra)	Eastern Goshwak (Astrus gentilis gentilis)
Rajasthan	Chinkara (Gazella bennettii)	Great Indian bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps)
Sikkim	Red panda (Ailurus fulgens)	Blood Pheasant (Ithaginis cruentus affinis)
Tamil Nadu	Nilgiri Tahr (Hemitragus hylocrius / Nilgiritragus hylocrius)	Emerald dove (Chalcophaps indica)
Tripura	Phayre’s Leaf Monkey (Trachypithecus phayrei)	Green Imperial Pegion  (Ducula aenea)
Uttarakhand	Himalayan Musk Deer (Moschus chrysogaster (?)   /Moschus leucogaster)	Himalayan Monal (Lophophorus impejanus)
Uttar Pradesh	Swamp Deer  (Cervus duvaucelii)	Sarus Crane (Grus antigone)
West Bengal	Fishing Cat (Prionailurus viverrinus)	White throated King fisher (Hlacyon smyrensis)
Andaman and Nicobar islands	Dungong (Sea Cow) (Dugong dugong / Trichehus dugong)	Andaman wood Pigeon (Carpophaga palumbodies / Columba palumbodies)
Chandigarh	Nil	nil
Dadra and Nagar Haveli	Striped Hyna (Hyaena hyaena)	Lesser Golden Backed Woodpecker (Dinopium benghalensis)
Daman and Diu	Yet to be declared	Yet to be declared
Laksha Dweep	Butterfly Fish	Sooty tern (Onychoprion fuscatus / Sterna fuscata nubilosa)
Delhi	Blue bull/ Neelgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus)	Shaheen ( Falcon) (Falco peregrinus peregrinator)
Puducherry	Indian Palm Squirrel (Funambulus palmarum)	Koel (Eudynamys scolopacea)

    Now don’t forget to post your reactions in the comment section below. 

Check here to know how others have performed in the quiz.

Courtesy:

Venkataraman, K., Chattopadhyay, A. and De, J. K. 2012. National and State Animals of India: 1-173.( Published by the Director, Zool. Surv. India, Kolkata)

Download a free book on National and State Animals of India

Elephants sing just like humans, find a group of researchers

Tweet

If you think only birds and humans sing, you are wrong.  A group of scientists has discovered that elephants also sing just like humans.  They have also found that you may not beat them in singling low-pitch, since elephant songs are often infrasonic, at 20 Hertz or below frequency. The infrasonic rumble, according to the scientists, is hardly audible for human beings.

Image courtesy: Wiki Media Commons

As per the research paper ‘How Low Can You Go? Physical Production Mechanism of Elephant InfrasonicVocalizations’, published by the journal Science, researchers were able to simulate the low-frequency rumbles made by elephants to communicate within the group members.

Despite being low-frequency, the song is audible to a distance of six miles to other elephants, which is why they use it to communicate and keep in touch with herd members.

Elephant song is no cat’s purr

illustration showing the singing mechanism in elephants
Image courtesy:sciencemag

The discovery sets aside a wide ranging speculation that the sounds produced by muscle twitching by neural stimuli as in the case of cat’s purring. The scientists, according to the paper, have found that the sound was made by the vibration of the vocal folds when air from the passes through the larynx in a self-sustained manner.  It is exactly what happens when humans sing too. 

To find out the secret, the researchers used the larynx of a dead elephant at a Berlin zoo by setting it up in the laboratory to record the high speed video clips of the flow-induced vocal fold movements. Since the larynx was excised, it was clear that there is no neural stimulus involved.

Young elephants perform like heavy metal singers, when excited

According to the statement by a member of the research team, they have also observed some similarities between young elephants and heavy metal singers. Both of them scream in such a way to create irregular pattern of vocal fold vibration, often to make it audible like a scream. The difference is that heavy metal singers do so while performing, young elephants, when they are highly excited. 

 

The researchers also claim that the principles they have developed with the help of the observations can be applied to different mammals. 

Christian T. Herbst, W. Tecumseh Fitch and Angela S. Stoeger of University of Vienna, Roland Frey of Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research,  Jörg Lohscheller of University of Applied Sciences, Ingo R. Titze of University of Utah and Michaela Gumpenberger of University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna co-authored the paper.