PROJECT ELEPHANT

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Context:

• The DNA profiling of 270 of the 2,675 captive elephants in the country has been completed.
• To commemorate the successful completion of 30 years of Project Elephant in 2022, the ministry has decided to organise Gaj Utsav 2023 at Kaziranga National Park.

Details: 

• DNA profiling of elephants, which will act as the ‘Adhaar card of captive elephants’, was started in August last year for  ‘Gaj Soochna’ mobile application for forest officials.
  • The process is being carried out in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India.
• Unlike Project Tiger, the Project Elephant looks at the welfare and health of captive elephants as well.
• India is home to 20% of the global captive Asian elephant population, but a census of captive elephants is not done regularly. Last census was done in 2018.

About Elephant:

Elephant Scientific Classification:

• There are two living genera in this family.
• The genus of Loxodonta contains two species: the African bush elephant and the African forest elephant.
• The genus of Elephas contains only a single living species: the Asian elephant, which itself can be divided further into several distinct subspecies, including the Indian, Sumatran, Borneo, and Sri Lankan elephants.
• The fossil record contains many more species, including the woolly mammoth, which once walked the planet in the last ice age.

Types:

• African Forest Elephant (Loxodanta cyclotis): Slightly smaller than its savannah-dwelling cousin, this massive herbivore also has rounder ears, straighter tusks, and more toenails, too. It roams through the forests of southern and central Africa.
• African Bush Elephant (Loxodanta africana africana): Capable of weighing 12,000lbs, these giant mammals roam the savannahs of western, central, eastern, and southern Africa.
• Borneo elephants (Elephas maximus borneensis): The smallest of all Asian elephants, this mammal evolved separately from all its relatives on Borneo and is known for having tusks which are straighter than usual and a longer tail on average.
• Indian elephants (Elephas maximus indicus): These elephants’ stomachs are proportionate to their body size and their females may occasionally have small tusks. They are also darker than Sumatran elephants but lighter than their Sri Lankan relatives.
• Sri Lankan elephants (Elephas maximus maximus): The largest of the three subspecies, these giants are also the darkest too. Like Indian elephants, they have 19 pairs of ribs.
• Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus): The lightest of Asian elephants, these herbivores have 20 pairs of ribs. They also have the least amount of discoloration out of all three subspecies.

Elephant Conservation Status: Near Threatened

• The Indian elephant Elephas maximus  is included in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES).

Elephant Locations:

• Africa, Asia
• The Indian elephant Elephas maximus occurs in the central and southern Western Ghats, North-east India, eastern India and northern India and in some parts of southern peninsular India.
• It occurs in 16 of the 28 states in the country. 

Main Prey: Grass, Fruit, Roots

Elephant Physical Characteristics:

• Color: Grey
• Skin Type: Leather
• Top Speed: 25 mph
• Lifespan: 55 - 70 years
• Weight: 3,000kg - 5,400kg
• Height: 2m - 3.6m

Incredible Elephant Facts:

• Spends around 22 hours a day eating!
• The elephant is one of the smartest animals on the planet.
• It is one of the few species that exhibit actual self-awareness and self-recognition.
• The elephant makes a low, rumbling sound that can be heard up to 5 miles away.
• An elephant can carry up to 7 tons, making it one of the world’s strongest animals.

Population:

• Less than 500,000 elephants of both species remain in the wild
• According to the IUCN Red List, which publishes a list of threatened species, both the African bush elephant and forest elephant are considered to be vulnerable species.

Conservation Initiatives:

About Project Elephant:

• Project Elephant was  launched in 1992 as a Centrally-sponsored scheme with an aim to protect elephants and improve its habitat and corridors, reduce human-elephant conflict and ensure their welfare.
• As many as 33 elephant reserves, spanning 80,777 sq km, have been notified.

Objectives:

• To provide financial and technical support to wildlife management efforts by states for their free-ranging populations of wild Asian Elephants.
• The project aims to ensure the long-term survival of the population of elephants in their natural habitats by protecting them, their habitats and migration corridors.
• Other goals of Project Elephant are supporting the research of the ecology and management of elephants, creating awareness of conservation among local people, providing improved veterinary care for captive elephants.

Elephant Reserves:

List of Notified Elephant Reserves in India (As on November 2022)

Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) programme:

• It is an international collaboration that measures the levels, trends and causes of elephant mortality, thereby providing an information base to support international decision-making related to conservation of elephants in Asia and Africa.
• The MIKE Programme was established by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) by Resolution 10.10 adopted at the tenth Conference of the Parties in 1997.
• There are currently 28 sites participating in the MIKE programme in Asia, distributed across 13 countries: India has 10 sites, followed by two sites each in Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand, and one site each in Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam.
• Project Elephanthas been formally implementing MIKE (Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants) programme of CITES in 10 ERs since January 2004.
• It is mandated by COP resolution of CITES.

Elephant Corridors:

• 101 elephant corridors in the country have been documented by the Wildlife Trust of India with assistance from State Forest Department of elephant range states.
• The United Kingdom based organization, Elephant Family, has partly funded ground truthing of these corridors.
• Elephant corridors are secured through voluntary relocation of settlements and/or acquisition of land.
• The Elephant Task Force Report, 2010 “Gajah” has identified 88 elephant corridors (27 priority I and 61 priority II) in the country, out of these 7 corridors has become dysfunctional and 18-20 new corridors are being used by elephants.

Steps undertaken by the Government to protect the Elephant Corridors are given below:

• Financial and technical assistance is provided to 16 elephant range states under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme ‘Project Elephant’.
• Improvement of elephant habitat, including Elephant Reserves and Corridors
• Regular and extensive patrolling of forest areas and anti poaching measures by frontline filed staff of the State Forest Departments.
• Trainings and awareness camps are organised regularly for local people for conservation of elephants and other wildlife.
• Local communities are organised into Joint Forest Management Committees/Ecodevelopment Committees for protection of elephant habitat, including elephant corridors.

Steps taken to counter Elephant-Human Conflict and Train Collisions:

Elephants straying into human habitations:

 The incidences of elephants straying into human habitation has increased during the last few years. The reasons of elephants straying into human habitation are:

• Fragmentation and degradation of elephant habitats.
• Lack of sufficient food and water in their natural habitats.
• Change in the migratory paths due to disturbance/development
• Rapid expansion of human habitations and agriculture near elephant reserves and elephant habitats.

Steps undertaken by the Government to reduce human animal conflicts are given below:

• Financial and technical assistance is provided to State/Union Territory Governments under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of ‘Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitat’, ‘Project Tiger’ and ‘Project Elephant’, augmenting their efforts for management of wildlife and their habitats.
• Improvement of Protected Areas, Tiger Reserves and Elephant Reserves.
• Regular and extensive patrolling of forest areas and anti poaching measures by frontline filed staff of the State Forest Departments.
• Trainings and awareness camps are organised regularly for local people for conservation of wildlife.
• Local communities are organised into Joint Forest Management Committees/Eco-development Committees for protection of wildlife habitat, including elephant corridors.
• Habitat improvement and eco-restoration is taken up in critical areas of tiger reserve, elephant reserves and corridors.

Elephant –Train Collisions:

A number of measures have been taken by Railways in coordination with Ministry of Environment and Forest which include the following:

• Imposition of speed restrictions in identified locations.
• Provision of signage board
• Sensitization of Train Crew and Station Masters on a regular basis,
• Need based clearance of vegetation on the sides of the track within railway land
• Construction of underpasses and ramps for the movement of elephants at identified locations and
• Provision of fencing at isolated locations.

The Government has taken the following measures, to minimise accidental deaths of elephants due to train hits:

• Identification of vulnerable sections of railway tracks.
• Regular patrolling of vulnerable stretches of railway tracks by frontline forest staff and wildlife watchers.
• Forming co-ordination committees of officers of Railways and SFDs.
• Clearing of vegetation along railway tracks to allow unhindered and clear view of train drivers.
• Providing signage’s at suitable points to alert train drivers about elephant presence.
• Avoid dumping of food waste along railway track to avoid unnecessary congregation of elephants and other wild animals near railway track.
• Moderating slopes for elevated sections of railway tracks so that elephants can negotiate these easily.
• To provide under pass/over pass at selected places for safe passage of elephants.
• Regulation of train speed from sunset to sunrise in vulnerable stretches.
• Sensitisation of staff of SFDs, Railways and local people.
• In order to develop specific strategies and for better coordination committees have been constituted between Zonal Railway Offices and State Forest Departments.

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