GUWAHATI: A five-year GPS tracking study has shed new light on how wild elephants navigate Assam’s forests, tea plantations, agricultural areas, and riverine habitats, providing the government with data to strengthen habitat protection and mitigate human-elephant conflict which is common.
The findings of the study, conducted jointly by the Assam forest department and the WWF-India, have been presented in a new report titled ‘Tracking the Giants: Movement and Habitat-Use Patterns of GPS-Collared Elephants in Assam.’
Releasing the report on the occasion of the 72nd Wildlife Week on Tuesday, Assam’s forest minister Jayanta Mallabaruah said, “The study will help guide conservation planning, strengthen wildlife-friendly infrastructure and support safer coexistence between people and wildlife across Assam.”
In July this year, Mallabaruah informed the Assembly that human-elephant conflict claimed 1,147 human lives and 246 elephants in the state in the past decade.
Between 2021 and 2026, researchers collared four female-led herds and one solitary male elephant in three human-elephant conflict districts of Udalguri, Sonitpur, and Biswanath. The study generated more than 38,000 GPS locations, providing high-resolution data on seasonal elephant movements across multi-use landscapes.
Assam remains a stronghold for Asian elephants. However, historical and ongoing challenges related to habitat loss and degradation have severely affected elephant populations as well as local communities, forcing them to share space and often resulting in crop and property damage, human casualties, and injury or mortality among elephants.
Dr Vinay Gupta, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests-Wildlife and Chief Wildlife Warden, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Department, Assam, said, “This report fills a major knowledge gap in terms of elephant presence and movement in the state. The findings of this study provide important baseline information on elephant-ranging patterns, particularly where they overlap with human land use.”
He further stated that the information obtained was crucial because it would help inform conservation strategies and strengthen human-elephant coexistence measures.
Aritra Kshettry, Lead for the Elephant Conservation Programme at WWF-India, said the GPS telemetry survey had helped identify core natural and secondary habitats used by the collared elephants and revealed a strong seasonal pattern in their movements.
“This information will guide effective management of human-elephant conflict, which requires a clearer understanding of where elephants move, how they use different habitats and land-use types, and how these patterns change across seasons,” Kshettry said.
According to a WWF-India statement, Sonai Rupai Wildlife Sanctuary, Behali Wildlife Sanctuary and Bornadi Wildlife Sanctuary have emerged as important habitats extensively used by the collared elephants. At the same time, tea plantations served as significant movement pathways and secondary habitats, often bringing elephants into close proximity to people.
“Protected areas and reserve forests remained important elephant habitats for much of the year, with home ranges of female-led herds expanding during the paddy cropping season, a period also associated with high levels of human-elephant conflict,” the statement said.