Koundinya sanctuary too small a habitat for elephants: expert

After the straying of elephants from Koundinya sanctuary into the Irala fields near Chittoor, a herd of seven elephants sneaked from Mamandur forest into Karakambadi Road, on the outskirts of Tirupati, three days back, though for a brief period. Strangely enough, both incidents involving elephants are witnessed for the first time in nearly two decades.

“The wayward movement of elephants into hitherto-unknown areas in southern Andhra Pradesh is actually part of their larger move to explore newer territories,” says Raman Sukumar, a professor at Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES) in Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru. In an informal chat with The Hindu, Dr. Sukumar observed that the foray started in the early eighties with the migration of around 50 elephants from Hosur forest division of Tamil Nadu into Kuppam area of Andhra Pradesh. From Kuppam to Palamaner, they moved in herds, causing panic among the forest fringe villages en route. “Koundinya is actually a very small area, which the elephants find hardly suitable to dwell and hence tend to move out,” he observed, adding that a larger and denser forest stretch such as Seshachalam biosphere reserve (which already has over three dozen elephants) or Nagarjuna Sagar-Srisailam belt could be a better place.

Conflict zone

Even as the villages in south-western Chittoor are finding it hard to cope with the movement of the pachyderms, a new batch has very recently moved from Hosur into Koundinya, which indicates the need for higher preparedness and conflict resolution measures in place from the Forest Department. “The conflict typically stays for a period of 10 years, as either the villagers get adjusted to the straying or the elephants tend to move out to newer territories,” notes Dr. Sukumar, an expert on the ecology of Asian elephants who has extensively researched on human-animal conflict.

Feeding proclivities

Earlier, in his talk on ‘The elephant is a foodie: ecology, behaviour and management’ at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) campus, Dr. Sukumar mentioned the elephant’s feeding proclivities as bringing it into direct conflict with humans. He explained the tuskers’ adaptation to a changing environment, both over evolutionary as well as contemporary time scales, and their implications in their management, in the face of diminishing prospects for coexistence with humans. He was felicitated by IISER Director K.N. Ganesh on the occasion.