Wayanad is summer home for elephants, says a study

Wayanad is summer home for elephants, says a study

Subject :Environment

Section: Protected Areas

Context:

• The Wayanad plateau witnesses high footfall of elephants in summer compared to the surrounding areas in the Nilgiri landscape, a new study finds.

Details:

• Researchers say that some forest areas in the plateau act as functional corridors for elephants to move between forest patches which need the same recognition as historical elephant corridors.
• Considering the landscape’s prominence in times of climate change, the study calls for strategic protected area expansion and acquisition of swamps and riparian forests close to forest areas as one of the conservation investments for the species.

Water bodies and trees act as summer coolers for elephants:

• Swamps and forests of Wayanad provide the elephants with shade and opportunities to take mud baths as a buffer against thermal stress.
• Elephants visit Wayanad during summer while during winter they prefer other habitats to the east of the Nilgiri landscape that comprises protected areas like Bandipur and Nagarahole tiger reserves.

About the Wayanad plateau:

• The Wayanad Plateau forms a continuation of the Mysore Plateau, the southern portion of Deccan Plateau which links the Western Ghats with the Eastern Ghats.
• It is set high in the Western Ghats with altitudes ranging from 700 to 2100 meters. VellariMala, a 2,240 m (7,349 ft) high peak situated on the trijunction of Wayanad, Malappuram, and Kozhikode districts, is the highest point in Wayanad district.
• The Wayanad plateau in the Brahmagiri‐Nilgiri‐Eastern Ghats landscape of peninsular India supports the largest breeding population of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) globally.
• This area provides year‐round water availability and forage to elephants.

Wayanad plateau needs better protection and conservation measures:

• Out of 344 sq km of Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, almost 100 sq km area is plantation.
• This high fragmentation of forests is one of the main reasons for increasing conflict between humans and elephants.
• Other factors including the increased population of elephants, especially the male elephants from better protection measures in the recent past, depletion of palatable plant species for herbivores due to the spread of invasive plant species, changing forest fire dynamics, etc. are pushing elephants out of forests and towards plantations and human habitations.
• There is a call for long-term research to fully comprehend the importance of Wayanad as a dry season habitat for elephants in the Nilgiri landscape.
• The study suggests a strategic protected area expansion and acquisition of swamps and riparian forests close to forest areas as one of the conservation investments in the landscape.
• Minimize habitat degradation from various factors like the spread of invasive plants, grazing, monoculture plantations, man-made large fires, etc through eco-restoration plans.

Asiatic elephants:

• The Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) is the only living species of the genus Elephas and is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in the north, Sumatra in the south, and Borneo in the east.
• Three subspecies are recognised—E. m. maximus from Sri Lanka, E. m. indicus from mainland Asia and E. m. sumatranus from the island of Sumatra. Formerly, there was also the Syrian elephant or Western Asiatic elephant (Elephas maximus asurus) which was the westernmost population of the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus).
• This subspecies became extinct in ancient times. Skeletal remains of E. m. asurus have been recorded from the Middle East: Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey from periods dating between at least 1800 BC and likely 700 BC.
• It is one of only three living species of elephants or elephantids anywhere in the world, the others being the African bush elephant and African forest elephant.
• It is the second largest species of elephant after the African bush elephant.
• The Asian elephant is the largest living land animal in Asia.
• The Asian elephant is a globally endangered species with 50,000 individuals remaining in the wild. About 60 percent of the population is in India with 25 percent in the global biodiversity hotspot of the Western Ghats.
• The existing habitat is highly fragmented with many anthropogenic pressures coupled with other factors like climate change leading to the degradation of these patches.
• With their habitats lost or fragmented, elephants are increasingly coming into conflict with humans.