Management Training of Sumatra Elephant (Elephas Maximus Sumatranus) and Daily Behavior in Flying Squad WWF Tesso Nilo National Park, Riau

Abstract

Flying squad is an established strategy in the effort to resolve the conflict elephants in Tesso Nilo National Park. Flying squad utilizes trained elephants to chase away wild elephants that come out the national park area. The study aims to identify management training and daily behavior of Sumatran elephant. The study was conducted in the Flying Squad WWF's Tesso Nilo National Park, Riau in March-April 2016 using focal animal sampling and interview. The elephant training curriculum consist of basic training, advanced training and exercise development by combined verbal commands, visual, and physical. The measured success of training will be seen if the elephants could perform mahout’s commands without any error. Percentage of ingestive behavior showed the highest value at noon, while percentage of shelter seeking and other behavior showed the highest value at night. It caused the elephants do more displacement to get the food at noon. Keywords: daily behavior, flying squad, focal animal sampling, sumatran elephant, training management