Elephants’ crave for the pith of palmyra (Borassus flabellifer) is long known. But what attracts them to the pith, which smells like arrack, remains unsolved.
With frequent instances of wild elephants raiding numerous brick kilns of Thadagam valley, one of the major elephant corridors in Coimbatore, the Forest Department has decided to study the nutrient content of the pith.
Despite the local ban imposed by the District Administration, palmyra stems still constitute a major chunk of firewood used in the 200-odd brick kilns.
“Samples of palmyra pith will be sent to the Salim Ali Center for Ornithology and Natural History and a Government of India laboratory in Puducherry for analysis. The study will help the Government formulate policies on banning the use of palmyra as fuel in brick kilns with scientific information and thus avoid human elephant conflict in prominent elephant corridors like Thadagam valley,” said S. Ramasubramanian, Conservator of Forest (Working Plan), Coimbatore.
Earlier, the Forest Department had done a similar study on jack fruit, another favourite delicacy elephants choose to raid in farmlands. The smell from ripe fruit, which elephants can sense from long distance, was one of the factors that attracted the giant mammals. Also, every part of jack fruit is rich in nutrients.
“The fermented smell of the palmyra pith could be a factor that attracts elephants. Also the pith is a sources of starch, glucose, and carbohydrate,” said Mr. Ramasubramanian.
In December 2017, Forest Department had asked brick kiln operators to stop using palmyra stems as firewood following an instruction from District Collector.
Being a low cost firewood that offers consistent heat and uniformed burning makes palmyra a major fuel in brick kilns. In 2016, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board had served noticed to brick kilns to avoid cashew shells, another fast burner, due to environmental concerns.
As per a 2013 study done by the Nilgiris unit of EIA Resource and Response Centre titled 'Thadagam: Valley of brick kilns, Lost river and disturbed wildlife', close to 75 conventional brick kilns with movable chimneys and nearly 125 modern eco-friendly brick kilns with static chimneys were located in Thadagam and nearby Anaikatti.
Thadagam north beat had witnessed high incidence of elephants entering human habitation in Coimbatore Forest Range in a study conducted by environmental NGO Osai between September 2016 and August 2017.
