N. Baskaran , Subhamoy Das , R. Sukumar

Abstract

The population structure, reproduction and management of captive Asian elephants managed by the Forest Department at Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary was studied during 2004. The sanctuary managed 48 captive elephants (18 adults, 17 sub-adults and 13 juvenile) with an overall male to female ratio of 1:2. Although there was no calf in this group during 2004, juveniles constituted a significant (27%) proportion of the population, indicating high reproduction in the preceding years. Selected individuals were used for work 2-3 hours/day, for patrolling and wildlife tourism. The elephants were allowed to graze freely in the natural habitat, as well as provided cut fodder and supplementary diet. There were 16 adult cows of which 13 were breeding regularly, while the remaining three cows were yet to calve though two of them were > 45 yrs. Mean age at first calving in the population was 19.5 yrs. Females born in captivity calved at a younger age (17.2 yrs) as compared to females caught or rescued from the wild (21.7 yrs). Mean inter-calving interval was 4.7 yrs. Sex ratio of 51 calves showed a male-biased sex ratio (1.6 male: 1 female). Middle-aged mothers produced more male calves than female calves as compared to younger or older mothers. A distinct seasonality in calving was observed. Overall, this is a healthy captive elephant population under effective management; we make some suggestions for improvement of this management.

Keywords

Captive Elephants, Population, Reproduction, Management, Jaldapara Wildlife
Sanctuary

Full Text

     

V. Vanitha , K. Thiyagesanand , N. Baskaran

Abstract

Mahouts are a specialized class of people with aproud professional background. However, the profession is losing its appeal owing to the dwindling importance of captive elephants. We have assessed their incomes, number elephants^-1, background and human casualties by captive elephants through extensive surveys in three captive elephant management systems-private, Hindu temple and forest department prevalent in Tamil Nadu.The number of mahouts elephant ^-1 was significantly less than actually required in the temple system. The forest department with the highest salary retained a higher proportion of traditional mahouts (83%) followed by private system (>60%) and the temple system with the lowest salary and benefits had the lowest proportion (56%). The forest department system with a large segment of adult male elephants (68%) recorded larger numbers of human injury (0.02 incident elephant^-1 year^-1), but cases of manslaughter was negligible (0.002 human deaths' elephant1 year). The temple management with predominantly (95%) female elephants still experienced the highest man-slaughter cases (0.01 human deaths elephant^-1 year^-1), which is attributed to a lack of traditional compassion and kindness, the essential traits to handle elephants effectively. Better economic and welfare measures are needed to retain the traditional talent in the profession and manage the captive elephants effectively.

Keywords

Mahout Status, Human - Captive Elephants Conflict, Tamil Nadu

Full Text