Elephant census: focus not just on numbers, but age also

Over 80 volunteers in 24 beats took part in the census

An elephant herd spotted during the waterhole counting.

The four-day synchronised elephant census conducted in southern States concluded on Friday. The census, carried once in five years, covered an area of 698 sq km in Coimbatore Forest Division.

Forest Department officials here said that the data collected through counting methods will be sent to Office of Chief Wildlife Warden, Chennai, for compilation works and assessment.

The census was carried out by 80-member team in 24 beats spread in seven forest ranges in Coimbatore. The team constituted students from Central Academy for State Forest Service in Coimbatore, anti-poaching watchers and a few wild life enthusiasts.

Mapping of elephant distribution was done on the first day of the census on Tuesday. Based on this, transect lines were drawn in each beat for block counting, a direct counting method, on Wednesday.

This was followed by indirect counting on Thursday which is primarily done based on the characteristics of elephant dung in the given area.

“Presence of dung along the transect line is helpful to understand about the elephant movement and the size of the herd,” said District Forest Officer S. Ramasubramanian.

The volunteers engaged in waterhole counting on the last day of the census. Mr. Ramasubramanian said that volunteers also did photo documentation of the elephants spotted at waterholes.

“The direct counting and waterhole counting helps us to know the elephant herds better. Crucial inputs like male-female ratio of the herd and approximate age of each pachyderm can be collected in these two methods,” added Mr. Ramasubramanian.

Global Positioning System was also used while recording the presence of elephants and dung in a particular location during the counting.

The census was also carried out in Anamalai Tiger Reserve spread over 958 sq km and fanning out to six ranges, Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve and forest divisions in the Nilgiris.

According to Forest officials, the data collected in the census from Tamil Nadu will be processed by experts at Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.