Ranging and Spacing Behaviour of Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus Linnaeus) in the Tropical Forests of Southern India

Baskaran, Nagarajan; Kanakasabai, R.; Desai, Ajay A.

doi:10.1007/978-981-10-6605-4_15

Cited by 10 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Although forest habitats may have high primary productivity and the forest understorey in the wider landscape has tall-grass areas (Sivaganesan 1991), we found that the grassland in Kabini had about three times the grass biomass as the neighbouring forest habitat of Nagarahole and Bandipur National Parks (data from Bandipur from Devidas 1995). As expected from EMFSR’s prediction of between-group contest in high quality patches, we observed frequent occurrence of agonistic between-clan encounters, which was rarely seen in forest habitats previously (Baskaran 1998). Further, consistent with the expectation of EMFSR that high quality resource patches would elicit stronger between-group contest than within-group contest, we found that individual-level agonism was more frequent and intense during between-clan agonism than within-clan agonism.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

“…Clans of female Asian elephants are known to have extensively overlapping home ranges (Fernando et al . 2008, Baskaran and Desai 1996) and a previous long-term study in the nearby Mudumalai forest in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve in southern India (Baskaran 1998, Baskaran et al . 2018 discussed below) and in Sri Lanka (Prithiviraj Fernando, personal communication , see also de Silva et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…Since between-group contests are more frequent in the Kabini grassland (Nandini 2016) compared to the nearby forests in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (Baskaran 1998), we wanted to find out whether the former was richer in resources, possibly explaining the occurrence of between-group contests. We thus expected greater grass biomass in the Kabini grassland than in the forest, which also has grass understorey.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Stronger between-clan than within-clan contests and their ecological correlates in a non-territorial, fission-fusion species, the Asian elephant

Gautam

Vidya

2019

Preprint

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2Socioecological theory, which attributes variation in social organization in female-bonded 3 species to differences in within-and between-group feeding competition shaped by food 4 distribution, remains largely unexplored in non-primate species. In the first such attempt on a 5 non-primate mammal, we studied the patterns of agonistic contests within-and between-6 clans (the most inclusive social unit) of female Asian elephants with respect to food 7 distribution, food abundance, and competitor density effects of group size and clan density. 8 We directly quantified the distribution of grass biomass in different stretches of a grassland 9 habitat around the Kabini backwaters, as well as the adjacent forest habitat, in Nagarahole 10 National Park, southern India. We also quantified agonistic interactions among adult females 11 in the grassland habitat to obtain rates of individual-level within-clan and between-clan 12 agonism, and clan-level between-clan encounters. The occurrence of more frequent between-13 clan encounters in contrast to what was known from forest habitats, and stronger individual-14 level between-clan agonism than within-clan agonism was consistent with the grassland 15 being a food-rich habitat patch as compared to the adjacent forest, as expected from 16 socioecological theory. Within-clan agonism was not influenced by grass abundance or 17 distribution within the grassland habitat, in contradiction to classic socioecological 18 predictions, but interestingly increased with female group size until a group size of five, 19 suggesting that the opposing forces of within-group and between-group competition may 20 govern group size, as large group size is advantageous in this strong between-clan contest 21 regime. The rate of (clan-level) between-clan agonistic encounters was positively explained 22 by the number of clans. Although the rate of between-clan encounters was not related to grass 23 biomass in focal zones, the duration of such encounters was positively related to grass 24 biomass at the site of contest. We discuss contest competition in female elephant societies in 25 the context of socioecological theory. 1 2

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Stronger between-clan than within-clan contests and their ecological correlates in a non-territorial, fission-fusion species, the Asian elephant

Gautam

Vidya

2019

Preprint

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“…Neupane et al (2019) conducted a study at Bardia National Park, Nepal and concluded that elephant's habitat preference was mainly associated with food resources such as grassland or mixed forest. Another study held at Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve of Southern India also revealed that the dry season movements of elephants were restricted around the perennial water sources, while the wet season movements were extended to areas with temporary water sources (Baskaran et al 2018). Wato et al (2019) found that elephant's movement patterns showed a stronger directional orientation toward water sources in the dry season compared to the wet season.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Seasonal Ranging Pattern of Asian Elephants in the Protected Area Landscape of Bangladesh

Motaleb¹,

Ahmed²,

Mahmud³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Background Seasonal ranging pattern of the Asian Elephants was assessed within two major Protected Areas, namely Chunati Wildlife Sanctuary and Teknaf Wildlife Sanctuary situated in the southern Bangladesh, for the period between November 2016 and May 2018. The objective of this study was to see how do the elephants move across the Protected Area landscapes, what was the linkage between the water sources and elephant’s seasonal movement patterns and how does vegetation cover link to elephant movement. Methods The ranging pattern was analyzed using the elephant dung distribution data. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index and Normalized Difference Water Index were estimated through satellite image analysis. Results Study clearly indicated that the ranging pattern of elephants fully depends on the vegetation and water sources. The areas where water sources and vegetation coverage were good, elephant movement was higher. The study identified few areas of these two Protected Areas where both vegetation coverage and water sources were visible and those areas as hot-spots for elephants. Conclusions The findings of this study can be used in conservation and management of elephants, particularly through the protection of preferred water sources and vegetation covered areas. In future these areas need to be protected and take proper management interventions.

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“…In this instance, translocation is a difficult choice because it is expensive and increases the risk of mortality of the target animal (Fernando et al 2012). Moreover, elephants have home ranges (Baskaran et al 2018a), are highly social (De Silva & Wittemyer 2012), and prefer certain habitats (Baskaran et al 2018b). Furthermore, mature adult male elephants translocated out of their original protected area tend to return to their home range, often hundreds of kilometers away, whereas young adult elephants tend to wander or settle in their new home (Fernando et al 2012).…”

Section: Open Accessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wildlife managers ignore previous knowledge at great risk: the case of Rivaldo, the iconic wild Asian Elephant Elephas maximus L. of the Sigur Region, Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, India

Puyravaud¹,

Davidar²

2021

J. Threat. Taxa

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Management of wildlife depends mostly on scientific data; ignoring this can lead to unintended consequences. We take the case study of the wild male Asian Elephant Rivaldo of the Sigur Region, who was translocated out of his range. Rivaldo returned to his home range within a few days, which could have been expected if scientific publications had been consulted. We suggest that a simple checklist of relevant publications can help park managers to decide on a proper management procedure. We also used a simple Bayesian framework to visually show how the probability of predicting a management outcome is increased by prior knowledge. The expensive and risky effort to relocate the elephant could have been avoided altogether if prior knowledge had been taken into consideration.

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Ranging and Spacing Behaviour of Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus Linnaeus) in the Tropical Forests of Southern India

Cited by 10 publications

References 30 publications

Stronger between-clan than within-clan contests and their ecological correlates in a non-territorial, fission-fusion species, the Asian elephant

Stronger between-clan than within-clan contests and their ecological correlates in a non-territorial, fission-fusion species, the Asian elephant

Seasonal Ranging Pattern of Asian Elephants in the Protected Area Landscape of Bangladesh

Wildlife managers ignore previous knowledge at great risk: the case of Rivaldo, the iconic wild Asian Elephant Elephas maximus L. of the Sigur Region, Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, India

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