Elephant Elephas maximus Linnaeus (Proboscidea: Elephantidae) migration paths in the Nilgiri Hills, India in the late 1970s

E.R.C Davidar,Peter Davidar,Jean-Philippe Puyravaud,Priya Davidar

doi:10.11609/jott.o3008.3284-93

Abstract

The study presented was carried out in 1978 with the support of the Asian Elephant Specialist Group (AsESG) of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission (SSC). Its objective was to investigate the impediments to elephant movement in the Nilgiri Hills, in the Western Ghats of India, in an attempt to suggest positive steps to encourage movement through the provision of corridors. The report was left unpublished, but given its importance as a reference document for the conservation of the Asian elephant in the Nilgiris, in 2011 the last two authors decided to publish it. The process of habitat fragmentation has been going on ever since man started agriculture. But this problem has, of late, become much more acute due to mounting pressure on land. The corridor concept applied to wildlife is the provision of a free and, as far as possible, unimpeded way for the passage of wild animals between two wildlife zones. A corridorâ€™s more important function is to prevent wild animals from getting isolated in small pocket-like islands. Maintaining elephant habitat connectivity in and around the Nilgiris rests upon the understanding that elephant populations of the several protected areas of the now Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve must remain active. The first author surveyed the Nilgiris on foot and on elephant back for several months in 1978. It was concluded that four areas (the Nilgiri north slopes and Deccan Plateau, the south and southeastern slopes, the Gudalur Plateau, and the upper plateau) harboured together 10 corridors that needed to be maintained, or restored, or even partially restored.

Highlights

The work presented here was undertaken by the late E.R.C
Nothing much was known about it but biologists could see that development in the Nilgiri Mountains (Western Ghats of India) posed more and more obstacles to the free movement of elephants
Davidar understood that his mission of recording corridors was “a purely negative exercise”, and extended the scope of the study. His reasoning was that focusing on functional elephants corridors was biased since it would not take into consideration corridors that were recently lost at the time of the study, which has implications for conservation

Summary

Introduction

The work presented here was undertaken by the late E.R.C. Davidar for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Asian Elephant Specialist Group (AsESG) in the second half of the 1970s. Reserved forests of the Sigur range occupy most of the land area. The most important function of this area is that it serves as the migration route between Mudumalai and the Wyanad forests on the west, and the Talamalai/Hasanur Plateau and Biligirirangan ranges on the east and northeast.

Results

Conclusion