COIMBATORE: A study commissioned by Forest department has identified 18 paths used by elephants to migrate between Coimbatore and Mannarkkad in Kerala. The study was conducted by elephant expert Dr. N Sivaganesan at the behest of Forest department.
A majority of the identified routes is in in foothills and gentle slopes in a gradient of 800 -1000 mts (from sea level) and the animals avoided hilly tracts. Some of the routes cut across national and State highways, the study revealed.
Human-animal conflict is reported mostly in in Madukkarai, Coimbatore, Boluvampatti, Periya Naicken Palayam and Karamadai during North-East monsoon when elephants move from Nilambur Elephant Reserve in Kerala, District Forest Officer D Venkatesh explained.
“Availability of perennial water sources and abundance of green tracts greatly influenced the choice of routes . We must act fast and conserve the migratory routes to address the human - animal conflict with the participation of inter-governmental institutions,” Venkatesh said.
He added that the study would help to understand the ecological health of the migratory routes and identify steps to be taken to keep the routes free from any hindrances. The study would also help to design a framework to undertake camera trap studies for better understanding of the profiles, and age-sex classification for elephant movement dynamics in the Nilambur-Coimbatore Elephant Reserve categorised under Brahmagiri - Nilgiri - Eastern Ghats Elephant landscape.
Sivaganesan said that the elephant population was stable in these forest division and that he spotted calf, adult and cow elephants, He said further studies would be conducted on how elephants enter agricultural farms and residential areas.
The methodologies used for the study included dialogues and questionnaire surveys with local communities living in the forest areas and adjacent elephant habitat, forest officials and field staff working in various forest divisions of Kerala and TamilNadu. Reconnaissance surveys for ground- truthing were also done during field visits, along with both interstate field staff of Mannarkkad and Coimbatore divisions.