Context
As human-elephant conflicts increase with time and expanding human range, understanding social behavior becomes crucial to the conservation and management of the highly social and endangered Asian elephant (Elephasmaximusindicus).
- A study is being conducted by Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), an autonomous Institute of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.
About the Asian elephants
- IUCN STATUS: Endangered
- It is kept under Appendix I of the United Nations Convention on the Conservation of Migratory.
- POPULATION: Fewer than 50,000
- The Asian elephant is the largest land mammal on the Asian continent.
- They inhabit dry to wet forest and grassland habitats in 13 range countries spanning South and Southeast Asia.
- Asian elephants are extremely sociable, forming groups of six to seven related females that are led by the oldest female, the matriarch.
- In Asia, elephant herd sizes are significantly smaller than those of Savannah elephants in Africa.
- In India, the Asian elephant was once widely distributed throughout the country, including in states like Punjab and
- Currently, they are found in four fragmented populations, in the south, north, central and northeast India.
- Their habitat ranges from wet tropical evergreen forests to semi-arid thorn and scrub forests. However, the highest densities of the elephant population are found in tropical deciduous forests.
- Elephants are ‘megaherbivores’ that require vast tracts of forests, rich in food and water to survive.
