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Has the final countdown to wildlife extinction in Northern Central African Republic begun?
By Philippe Bouché et al. | ||
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Reducing human-elephant conflict: do chillies help deter elephants from entering crop fields?
By Simon Hedges and Donny Gunaryadi | ||
AFTER SUDAN'S CIVIL WAR, WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE
By Gwen Thompkins
There are few places on Earth as remote as parts of southern Sudan. Roads are scarce, and many locations are only accessible by airplane.
Scientists working there have discovered an unexpected windfall of nature near the border with Ethiopia, a place that endured Sudan's long civil war, and where the wild things are.
Boma National Park in southern Sudan appears virtually untouched by humans. There are some people living in the area, but it is mainly a wilderness of woodlands and grasslands, bordering the largest continuous savanna in all of Africa. Boma, coupled with the savanna and wetlands of neighboring Jonglei state, is nearly the size of California.
"It's big. The Boma-Jonglei landscape is 200,000 square kilometers (about 80,000 square miles). So this is an amazing size of an area," says Michelle Wieland, a community outreach coordinator for the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Animal Survivors
A flight over the area in a small airplane reveals the abundance of wildlife: rare birds, elephants, buffaloes, hippos and hartebeests, which are pony-sized, caramel-colored antelopes.
From 1983 to 2005, southern Sudan was a war zone between northern forces dispatched from Sudan's predominately Arab Muslim government in Khartoum and the Sudan People's Liberation Army in the south. The southern army had a base in Boma, and conservationists had concerns about the fate of the wildlife there.
Nothing brings down a zebra like an AK-47, and both sides in the conflict — and the civilian population — fed on the animals.
North and south made peace in 2005. But apparently the war was not as devastating to the animals as originally believed. In 2007, a group of scientists made an aerial survey and beheld unknown herds of hoofed creatures and other animals.
The hippos did not fare so well. Currently, there are about 42 hippos inside Boma National Park; Wieland says there used to be many more.
"But hippos are a very easy target. During the war, it was very easy for them to be killed," she says, adding that they were prized because a single massive animal provides so much meat.
But the antelope population is thriving. Boma's antelope migration is believed to be second in size only to the wildebeests of the Serengeti.
Pros And Cons Of Eco-Tourism
Now, the government of southern Sudan, the Wildlife Conservation Society and the U.S. envoy to the region are hoping to capitalize on this unexpected bounty of nature by encouraging eco-tourism.
Southern Sudan desperately needs commerce. And there is peace and quiet, the way nature intended.
But the area is so remote that it would take a major investment to bring creature comforts to a land of prickly acacia trees, tall grass and cattails. Tribes living in the area have been known to walk three days just to find salt. Any tourism facilities would have to be built from scratch.
Some tour companies reportedly have made the rounds, and investors from the United Arab Emirates have leased some land in the area for exclusive lodgings.
But there is a nagging worry in the region that the United Arab Emirates company will want to build and operate a high-end hunting camp. And even though hunting is illegal in southern Sudan, the desperate need for jobs and government revenues could mean that officials will allow the resort, some locals fear.
Albert Schenk, a project manager for the Wildlife Conservation Society, says there can be a way for everyone to benefit from the landscape — without guns.
"Ideally, of course, it would be a place where you have a lot of species which will attract overseas tourists, which will bring income directly to the local communities and also revenue for the country," he says. "This is a very special place, even if you look at it from a global point of view. So, conserving this place for the people of Sudan, for the people of Africa and, basically, for people of the whole of the world, is of course, our goal."
Before the war, there used to be nearly a million white-eared kobs, a type of antelope, scampering around Boma. The park also had almost 50,000 hartebeests, 30,000 zebras and 9,000 giraffes.
In some areas, the zebras have been wiped out. Now, with the war over, scientists are clearly hoping the animals will be fruitful and multiply.
Violence Could Reignite
But both northern and southern Sudan are arming for the possibility of another war.
U.S. envoy Scott Gration has been working to hold together a fraying peace deal between Khartoum and southern Sudan. If the peace holds, Gration said during a recent visit to Boma, the south will need new sources of income.
"We need to figure out how we're going to get not only eco-tourism and agribusiness in to build foreign exchange reserves, but to be some way of providing jobs," Gration said. "A lot of folks don't have skills other than fighting, because they've been doing it for so long."
Source: NPR
http://www.wbur.org/news/npr/113503170
Scientists working there have discovered an unexpected windfall of nature near the border with Ethiopia, a place that endured Sudan's long civil war, and where the wild things are.
Boma National Park in southern Sudan appears virtually untouched by humans. There are some people living in the area, but it is mainly a wilderness of woodlands and grasslands, bordering the largest continuous savanna in all of Africa. Boma, coupled with the savanna and wetlands of neighboring Jonglei state, is nearly the size of California.
"It's big. The Boma-Jonglei landscape is 200,000 square kilometers (about 80,000 square miles). So this is an amazing size of an area," says Michelle Wieland, a community outreach coordinator for the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Animal Survivors
A flight over the area in a small airplane reveals the abundance of wildlife: rare birds, elephants, buffaloes, hippos and hartebeests, which are pony-sized, caramel-colored antelopes.
From 1983 to 2005, southern Sudan was a war zone between northern forces dispatched from Sudan's predominately Arab Muslim government in Khartoum and the Sudan People's Liberation Army in the south. The southern army had a base in Boma, and conservationists had concerns about the fate of the wildlife there.
Nothing brings down a zebra like an AK-47, and both sides in the conflict — and the civilian population — fed on the animals.
North and south made peace in 2005. But apparently the war was not as devastating to the animals as originally believed. In 2007, a group of scientists made an aerial survey and beheld unknown herds of hoofed creatures and other animals.
The hippos did not fare so well. Currently, there are about 42 hippos inside Boma National Park; Wieland says there used to be many more.
"But hippos are a very easy target. During the war, it was very easy for them to be killed," she says, adding that they were prized because a single massive animal provides so much meat.
But the antelope population is thriving. Boma's antelope migration is believed to be second in size only to the wildebeests of the Serengeti.
Pros And Cons Of Eco-Tourism
Now, the government of southern Sudan, the Wildlife Conservation Society and the U.S. envoy to the region are hoping to capitalize on this unexpected bounty of nature by encouraging eco-tourism.
Southern Sudan desperately needs commerce. And there is peace and quiet, the way nature intended.
But the area is so remote that it would take a major investment to bring creature comforts to a land of prickly acacia trees, tall grass and cattails. Tribes living in the area have been known to walk three days just to find salt. Any tourism facilities would have to be built from scratch.
Some tour companies reportedly have made the rounds, and investors from the United Arab Emirates have leased some land in the area for exclusive lodgings.
But there is a nagging worry in the region that the United Arab Emirates company will want to build and operate a high-end hunting camp. And even though hunting is illegal in southern Sudan, the desperate need for jobs and government revenues could mean that officials will allow the resort, some locals fear.
Albert Schenk, a project manager for the Wildlife Conservation Society, says there can be a way for everyone to benefit from the landscape — without guns.
"Ideally, of course, it would be a place where you have a lot of species which will attract overseas tourists, which will bring income directly to the local communities and also revenue for the country," he says. "This is a very special place, even if you look at it from a global point of view. So, conserving this place for the people of Sudan, for the people of Africa and, basically, for people of the whole of the world, is of course, our goal."
Before the war, there used to be nearly a million white-eared kobs, a type of antelope, scampering around Boma. The park also had almost 50,000 hartebeests, 30,000 zebras and 9,000 giraffes.
In some areas, the zebras have been wiped out. Now, with the war over, scientists are clearly hoping the animals will be fruitful and multiply.
Violence Could Reignite
But both northern and southern Sudan are arming for the possibility of another war.
U.S. envoy Scott Gration has been working to hold together a fraying peace deal between Khartoum and southern Sudan. If the peace holds, Gration said during a recent visit to Boma, the south will need new sources of income.
"We need to figure out how we're going to get not only eco-tourism and agribusiness in to build foreign exchange reserves, but to be some way of providing jobs," Gration said. "A lot of folks don't have skills other than fighting, because they've been doing it for so long."
Source: NPR
http://www.wbur.org/news/npr/113503170
HEAR THE ANIMALS ROAR: USING ACOUSTIC SENSORS TO MEASURE WILDLIFE ABUNDANCE
in Research Briefs
Here at CM, we're always excited to read studies on new technology-based methods for doing conservation fieldwork. So we were particularly happy to come across research from scientists at Cornell University and the Wildlife Conservation Society on using acoustic sensors to estimate species abundance based on animal calls. This technique holds promise for surveying wildlife that is otherwise difficult and expensive to study (e.g. animals with cryptic dung or nest sites and those frequenting flooded areas). An acoustic sensor in the field (though probably not Africa). Image credit, Cornell University.
Their study presents a methodology for
doing wildlife acoustic surveys, which they developed for African elephants (Loxodonta africana cyclotis) in the Central African Republic - though the method is potentially applicable a number of other species. I give a general outline of the methodology below. But as always, I highly recommend that you review the actual study methods because they go into much greater detail than I do.
Devoloping acoustic survey methods...
1) To calibrate the acoustic sensors for estimating abundance, observers counted elephants in a mineral rich forest clearing every 30 minutes. Acoustic data was collected simultaneously using autonomous recording units sensitive to low-frequency elephant calls. The researchers found a significant linear relationship between calling rate (mean = 26.1 calls ⁄ 20-min sampling period) and number of elephants (mean = 34.8 elephants) during 84 sampling periods.
2) The visual counting and acoustical data were analyzed to develop an acoustic-abundance index model that predicts number of animals from calling rates. They calculated an effective sampling area of 3.22 square kilometers for a single sensor.
3) Using the acoustic abundance index and effective sampling area, the researchers developed a formula for estimating abundance beyond the collective sampling area of a network of acoustic recorders at a new survey site.
Implications for conservation practice
This study indicates that acoustic surveys can be a valuable tool in studying distribution and abundance of vocal species. For elephants, the effective sampling area of a single sensor was 3.22 square kilometers compared to .01 square kilometers for a typical 1-kilometer dung transect. The researchers write:
"The use of long-term recorders facilitates sampling of large areas non-invasively and simultaneously captures the sounds of multiple target species as well as human activities including gunshots, chainsaws, and vehicle traffic."
However, the effectiveness of using acoustic surveys depends largely on whether wildlife vocal behavior is predictable. For elephants, the researchers developed the acoustic-abundance index through observations of individuals in a forest clearing. A key questions is whether this relationship holds the same in other settings. The researchers conclude that it does based on data from other research. While acoustic surveys are very promising, more study is needed to see how applicable this method is to other species.
--Reviewed by Rob Goldstein
Thompson, M., Schwager, S., Payne, K., & Turkalo, A. (2009). Acoustic estimation of wildlife abundance: methodology for vocal mammals in forested habitats African Journal of Ecology DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2028.2009.01161.x
http://conservationmaven.com/frontpage/2009/10/7/hear-the-animals-roar-using-acoustic-sensors-to-measure-wild.html
Their study presents a methodology for
doing wildlife acoustic surveys, which they developed for African elephants (Loxodonta africana cyclotis) in the Central African Republic - though the method is potentially applicable a number of other species. I give a general outline of the methodology below. But as always, I highly recommend that you review the actual study methods because they go into much greater detail than I do.
Devoloping acoustic survey methods...
1) To calibrate the acoustic sensors for estimating abundance, observers counted elephants in a mineral rich forest clearing every 30 minutes. Acoustic data was collected simultaneously using autonomous recording units sensitive to low-frequency elephant calls. The researchers found a significant linear relationship between calling rate (mean = 26.1 calls ⁄ 20-min sampling period) and number of elephants (mean = 34.8 elephants) during 84 sampling periods.
2) The visual counting and acoustical data were analyzed to develop an acoustic-abundance index model that predicts number of animals from calling rates. They calculated an effective sampling area of 3.22 square kilometers for a single sensor.
3) Using the acoustic abundance index and effective sampling area, the researchers developed a formula for estimating abundance beyond the collective sampling area of a network of acoustic recorders at a new survey site.
Implications for conservation practice
This study indicates that acoustic surveys can be a valuable tool in studying distribution and abundance of vocal species. For elephants, the effective sampling area of a single sensor was 3.22 square kilometers compared to .01 square kilometers for a typical 1-kilometer dung transect. The researchers write:
"The use of long-term recorders facilitates sampling of large areas non-invasively and simultaneously captures the sounds of multiple target species as well as human activities including gunshots, chainsaws, and vehicle traffic."
However, the effectiveness of using acoustic surveys depends largely on whether wildlife vocal behavior is predictable. For elephants, the researchers developed the acoustic-abundance index through observations of individuals in a forest clearing. A key questions is whether this relationship holds the same in other settings. The researchers conclude that it does based on data from other research. While acoustic surveys are very promising, more study is needed to see how applicable this method is to other species.
--Reviewed by Rob Goldstein
Thompson, M., Schwager, S., Payne, K., & Turkalo, A. (2009). Acoustic estimation of wildlife abundance: methodology for vocal mammals in forested habitats African Journal of Ecology DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2028.2009.01161.x
http://conservationmaven.com/frontpage/2009/10/7/hear-the-animals-roar-using-acoustic-sensors-to-measure-wild.html
COUNTING ELEPHANTS BY VOICE
By Brandon Keim
By putting microphones in the jungle, researchers are better able to perform the surprisingly tricky task of counting elephants.
Sure, pachyderm polling doesn’t seem difficult. They’re not exactly hard to see. But covering hundreds of square miles, day after day, requires time, money and personnel — all of which are in short supply in the developing countries where elephants live.
Enter the Elephant Listening Project at Cornell University. Using acoustic monitoring and analysis techniques originally developed for counting birds by song, it tracks elephants in the jungles of Central Africa.
In a paper published in the September African Journal of Ecology, project researchers describe the calibration of their model at a Central African Republic site. First they personally observed forest clearings where elephants were known to gather, counting the animals they saw and the noises they made. The researchers then turned these observations into a framework for interpreting recordings made by microphones installed throughout the forest.
The same approach “provides an opportunity to improve management and conservation of many acoustically active taxa whose populations are currently under-monitored,” wrote the researchers.
In addition to being relatively inexpensive and geographically comprehensive, bioacoustic monitoring offers other advantages over traditional animal counts. It can give detailed ecological snapshots, counting anything that makes a noise.
For the elephant counts, each monitor covered a square mile of ground, “a dramatic increase in coverage over dung survey transects.” In other words, it’s a lot easier to listen to elephants than gather their poop.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/10/acoustic-elephant-counting/
Sure, pachyderm polling doesn’t seem difficult. They’re not exactly hard to see. But covering hundreds of square miles, day after day, requires time, money and personnel — all of which are in short supply in the developing countries where elephants live.
Enter the Elephant Listening Project at Cornell University. Using acoustic monitoring and analysis techniques originally developed for counting birds by song, it tracks elephants in the jungles of Central Africa.
In a paper published in the September African Journal of Ecology, project researchers describe the calibration of their model at a Central African Republic site. First they personally observed forest clearings where elephants were known to gather, counting the animals they saw and the noises they made. The researchers then turned these observations into a framework for interpreting recordings made by microphones installed throughout the forest.
The same approach “provides an opportunity to improve management and conservation of many acoustically active taxa whose populations are currently under-monitored,” wrote the researchers.
In addition to being relatively inexpensive and geographically comprehensive, bioacoustic monitoring offers other advantages over traditional animal counts. It can give detailed ecological snapshots, counting anything that makes a noise.
For the elephant counts, each monitor covered a square mile of ground, “a dramatic increase in coverage over dung survey transects.” In other words, it’s a lot easier to listen to elephants than gather their poop.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/10/acoustic-elephant-counting/
ELEPHANTS COMMUNICATE THROUGH SEISMIC WAVES
Researcher: Elephant Vocalizations Hit the Ground Like Mini Explosions
Opinion by Lee Dye
If you were as clever as an elephant you could communicate with your friends without a cell phone or iPod or any other fancy electronic gadget. All you would have to do is speak, quite loudly as it turns out, and the earth would carry your message through seismic waves across considerable distances.
Caitlin O'Connell-Rodwell discovered this amazing ability of elephants while working in Africa more than a decade ago, and she recognized it because she had seen similar clues in insects she had studied years earlier at the University of Hawaii.
Today she is a scientist specializing in behavioral ecology at Stanford University, and the research she pioneered now suggests that many animals communicate through subtle shock waves that travel along the earth's surface.
The work lends some scientific credence to the idea that some animals may even be able to predict earthquakes because of weak precursors that arrive before the main shockwave.
That belief has been supported largely by anecdotal evidence, and scientific validation has been hard to come by, but this work suggests that skeptics who scorned the idea may have leaped to a premature judgment.
Scorpions, Kangaroo Rats, Golden Moles Communicate Without Audible Signals
That, however, remains to be seen, but what is clear at this point is that a number of animals, especially elephants, have some communications skills that eclipse those possessed by humans.
O'Connell-Rodwell was working on a master's thesis on insects called plant hoppers when she documented a peculiar form of communication by a male seeking the attention of a female. The male would freeze, then press down on his legs, go forward a little, then freeze again. No audible signal, but the female got the message.
That set her to wondering if there wasn't a lot more to communications than scientists had thought. It was well known that a number of smaller animals communicated the same way, including some spiders, scorpions, kangaroo rats and golden moles.
But could large mammals also communicate via seismic waves?
Several years later O'Connell-Rodwell was studying in Etosha National Park in northern Namibia when she observed something remarkable.
Elephants Create Vocalizations With High Sound Pressure
"I saw elephants doing the same thing" as the plant hoppers back in the lab, she said in a telephone interview. "I saw elephants paying a lot of attention to the ground, shifting their feet, reorienting them, and then lifting a foot off the ground similar to the way the insects behaved."
Joined by experts from a wide variety of fields, O'Connell-Rodwell and her colleagues have since documented how elephants can communicate over considerable distances, possibly several miles, by seismic waves transmitted through the ground.
The researchers documented much of their research in a recent issue of the journal Physiology, published by the American Physiological Society.
Elephants, of course, are highly vocal but their loud "vocalizations" do more than wake up the neighbors.
Elephants Spread Out Ears to Triangulate Airborne Signals
"The elephant creates this vocalization with such a high sound pressure that it hits the ground, like a mini explosion, so hard that it creates ripples across the surface of the ground," O'Connell-Rodwell said. That's how the elephant sends a message, and other elephants can tell whether the signal is coming from a friend or a foe, and whether danger, or food, is nearby.
The elephant that receives the message also exhibits specific behavior. It also may hear airborne sounds emitted by the sender, so it spreads out its ears to triangulate the signal, thus determining the direction it is coming from.
O'Connell-Rodwell noticed during her many hours of observation that sometimes elephants would freeze simultaneously, even if they were in mid-stride, and press their front feet onto the ground. They might also lift one leg, or roll one foot forward to press the toes against the ground.
The African elephants responded in the same way to signals sent by the researchers, even if the signals were sent only through the ground and there was no audio soundtrack. If the signal indicated danger, the elephants would crowd together in their defensive posture, but only if it sounded like it was from an elephant that lives in the same area.
Elephants Well-Equipped to Communicate Through Seismic Waves
Further study of elephants has shown that they are particularly well equipped to communicate through seismic waves. Their feet, for example, have large fat pads beneath the heel that scientists believe may facilitate transmitting the waves to the elephant's brain. Similar fat pads are found in other mammals, including cats, suggesting that many animals may be using seismic waves to communicate.
An insect may not be able to send a seismic wave very far, but its potential mate may be near. And cats, as many folks know, seem to have an uncanny ability to sense danger.
O'Connell-Rodwell thinks humans may have similar talents, but they probably lie dormant in most of us. Centuries ago, when our ancestors gathered around the camp fire to listen to the village drummer send out both auditory and seismic messages, they may have been a little more attuned to the vibrations in the soil beneath their feet. That could come in handy during a hunt, by the way.
There's some evidence that humans with hearing impairment are also more aware of seismic signals.
"They are much better at detecting vibrations than humans with normal hearing," said O'Connell-Rodwell, who is working in that field as part of her research in Stanford's department of otolaryngology, or head and neck surgery. "Schools for the deaf have wooden dance floors and they play music through the floors and people describe it as hearing the music through their feet."
Can Animals Detect Earthquakes Before They Happen?
I knew a teenage girl years ago who was completely deaf, but could dance as well as anyone on the floor. She knew the music, even if she couldn't hear it.
So if elephants and insects, and some people, can sense seismic signals, is there really anything to those stories we hear about animals detecting an earthquake before it happens?
O'Connell-Rodwell thinks there's probably something to it, but she says the evidence is still woefully lacking.
After the 2004 tsunami disaster struck Southeast Asia there were reports that elephants in Thailand had become agitated and raced to higher ground even before the wave struck the beaches. They may have sensed minor precursor shock waves before the major shock hit the area, but maybe not.
O'Connell-Rodwell points out that a group of elephants in a national park in Sri Lanka had been equipped with satellite collars, and they didn't move at all before the tsunami struck. But seismic waves behave differently in different soils, so it's possible the precursors could be detected in Thailand, but not Sri Lanka.
Although some experiments in Japan and China suggest that some animals, even catfish, can predict earthquakes, the record remains incomplete. All of this suggests, O'Connell-Rodwell said, that there's still much to be learned about communications among animals that humans tend to think are a tad dumb.
Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Technology/DyeHard/elephants-predict-earthquakes/story?id=8643318
Caitlin O'Connell-Rodwell discovered this amazing ability of elephants while working in Africa more than a decade ago, and she recognized it because she had seen similar clues in insects she had studied years earlier at the University of Hawaii.
Today she is a scientist specializing in behavioral ecology at Stanford University, and the research she pioneered now suggests that many animals communicate through subtle shock waves that travel along the earth's surface.
The work lends some scientific credence to the idea that some animals may even be able to predict earthquakes because of weak precursors that arrive before the main shockwave.
That belief has been supported largely by anecdotal evidence, and scientific validation has been hard to come by, but this work suggests that skeptics who scorned the idea may have leaped to a premature judgment.
Scorpions, Kangaroo Rats, Golden Moles Communicate Without Audible Signals
That, however, remains to be seen, but what is clear at this point is that a number of animals, especially elephants, have some communications skills that eclipse those possessed by humans.
O'Connell-Rodwell was working on a master's thesis on insects called plant hoppers when she documented a peculiar form of communication by a male seeking the attention of a female. The male would freeze, then press down on his legs, go forward a little, then freeze again. No audible signal, but the female got the message.
That set her to wondering if there wasn't a lot more to communications than scientists had thought. It was well known that a number of smaller animals communicated the same way, including some spiders, scorpions, kangaroo rats and golden moles.
But could large mammals also communicate via seismic waves?
Several years later O'Connell-Rodwell was studying in Etosha National Park in northern Namibia when she observed something remarkable.
Elephants Create Vocalizations With High Sound Pressure
"I saw elephants doing the same thing" as the plant hoppers back in the lab, she said in a telephone interview. "I saw elephants paying a lot of attention to the ground, shifting their feet, reorienting them, and then lifting a foot off the ground similar to the way the insects behaved."
Joined by experts from a wide variety of fields, O'Connell-Rodwell and her colleagues have since documented how elephants can communicate over considerable distances, possibly several miles, by seismic waves transmitted through the ground.
The researchers documented much of their research in a recent issue of the journal Physiology, published by the American Physiological Society.
Elephants, of course, are highly vocal but their loud "vocalizations" do more than wake up the neighbors.
Elephants Spread Out Ears to Triangulate Airborne Signals
"The elephant creates this vocalization with such a high sound pressure that it hits the ground, like a mini explosion, so hard that it creates ripples across the surface of the ground," O'Connell-Rodwell said. That's how the elephant sends a message, and other elephants can tell whether the signal is coming from a friend or a foe, and whether danger, or food, is nearby.
The elephant that receives the message also exhibits specific behavior. It also may hear airborne sounds emitted by the sender, so it spreads out its ears to triangulate the signal, thus determining the direction it is coming from.
O'Connell-Rodwell noticed during her many hours of observation that sometimes elephants would freeze simultaneously, even if they were in mid-stride, and press their front feet onto the ground. They might also lift one leg, or roll one foot forward to press the toes against the ground.
The African elephants responded in the same way to signals sent by the researchers, even if the signals were sent only through the ground and there was no audio soundtrack. If the signal indicated danger, the elephants would crowd together in their defensive posture, but only if it sounded like it was from an elephant that lives in the same area.
Elephants Well-Equipped to Communicate Through Seismic Waves
Further study of elephants has shown that they are particularly well equipped to communicate through seismic waves. Their feet, for example, have large fat pads beneath the heel that scientists believe may facilitate transmitting the waves to the elephant's brain. Similar fat pads are found in other mammals, including cats, suggesting that many animals may be using seismic waves to communicate.
An insect may not be able to send a seismic wave very far, but its potential mate may be near. And cats, as many folks know, seem to have an uncanny ability to sense danger.
O'Connell-Rodwell thinks humans may have similar talents, but they probably lie dormant in most of us. Centuries ago, when our ancestors gathered around the camp fire to listen to the village drummer send out both auditory and seismic messages, they may have been a little more attuned to the vibrations in the soil beneath their feet. That could come in handy during a hunt, by the way.
There's some evidence that humans with hearing impairment are also more aware of seismic signals.
"They are much better at detecting vibrations than humans with normal hearing," said O'Connell-Rodwell, who is working in that field as part of her research in Stanford's department of otolaryngology, or head and neck surgery. "Schools for the deaf have wooden dance floors and they play music through the floors and people describe it as hearing the music through their feet."
Can Animals Detect Earthquakes Before They Happen?
I knew a teenage girl years ago who was completely deaf, but could dance as well as anyone on the floor. She knew the music, even if she couldn't hear it.
So if elephants and insects, and some people, can sense seismic signals, is there really anything to those stories we hear about animals detecting an earthquake before it happens?
O'Connell-Rodwell thinks there's probably something to it, but she says the evidence is still woefully lacking.
After the 2004 tsunami disaster struck Southeast Asia there were reports that elephants in Thailand had become agitated and raced to higher ground even before the wave struck the beaches. They may have sensed minor precursor shock waves before the major shock hit the area, but maybe not.
O'Connell-Rodwell points out that a group of elephants in a national park in Sri Lanka had been equipped with satellite collars, and they didn't move at all before the tsunami struck. But seismic waves behave differently in different soils, so it's possible the precursors could be detected in Thailand, but not Sri Lanka.
Although some experiments in Japan and China suggest that some animals, even catfish, can predict earthquakes, the record remains incomplete. All of this suggests, O'Connell-Rodwell said, that there's still much to be learned about communications among animals that humans tend to think are a tad dumb.
Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Technology/DyeHard/elephants-predict-earthquakes/story?id=8643318
ELEPHANTS DIE OF RABIES
By Ranjan Kasthuri
According to the Specialist in Viral Diseases, Dr. Omala Wimalaratne of the Medical Research Institute, two elephants had died of rabies in the second half of last year. She said the elephants that died were two tamed and domesticated animals and that it has been the first time such a thing had been reported.
She revealed that at a conference held in Colombo at the Health Education Unit on the occasion of World Rabies Prevention Day. She said that the revelation proved that rabies can affect not only physically small animals but also the huge ones like elephants.
She said that rabies is normally a disease that can affect dogs, cats, mongoose, giant squirrels, field rats and cattle.
http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=62488
By Ranjan Kasthuri
According to the Specialist in Viral Diseases, Dr. Omala Wimalaratne of the Medical Research Institute, two elephants had died of rabies in the second half of last year. She said the elephants that died were two tamed and domesticated animals and that it has been the first time such a thing had been reported.
She revealed that at a conference held in Colombo at the Health Education Unit on the occasion of World Rabies Prevention Day. She said that the revelation proved that rabies can affect not only physically small animals but also the huge ones like elephants.
She said that rabies is normally a disease that can affect dogs, cats, mongoose, giant squirrels, field rats and cattle.
http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=62488
BEHAVIOURAL ENRICHMENT FOR CAPTIVE ELEPHANTS
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June Billings is an elephant carer/behaviourist and especially for PACHYDERM she compiled a text concerning environmental enrichment within the context of the elephant’s behavioural biology and natural history.
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ELEPHANTS IN SRI LANKAN HISTORY AND CULTURE
Jayantha Jayewardene
Managing Trustee
Biodiversity and Elephant Conservation Trust
In Sri Lanka no other animal has been associated for so long with the people in their traditional and religious activities as the elephant. This association dates back to the Pre-Christian era, more than 5,000 years. Ancient Sinhalese kings captured and tamed elephants which used to abound in the country.
Various methods of capture were employed, some indigenous, others introduced by neighbouring kings and countries that conquered and ruled Sri Lanka. Gradually the number of elephants captured increased. All elephants were kept by the king in his stables. The methods of capture were refined and modified as time went on.
Elephants, suitably caparisoned, have and still take part in ceremonial, cultural and religious pageants and processions. Elephants have been used by man in his wars in Europe and Asia. They have assisted him in his logging operations and construction works. In this country too elephants have fought in wars and featured in various sports and combat during Sinhala celebrations. In India they have provided transportation for sportsmen indulging in shikars.
During the time of the Sinhala kings the elephant was afforded complete protection by royal decree. The penalty for killing an elephant was death. With the advent of the British this protection was withdrawn. Large numbers of elephants were killed by the British under the guise of sport. Not only did the British government encourage and condone killings as a sport but it also paid a bounty for each elephant killed, deeming the elephant an agricultural pest.
In Sri Lanka the variations in physical appearance amongst elephants were noticed and recorded in ancient Sinhala manuscripts. There are ten such groups or ‘castes’. These differences do not seem important now.
The first record of the association between man and elephant in Sri Lanka was recorded in the 1st Century BC on an inscription at Navalar Kulam in Panama Pattu in the Eastern Province, of a religious benefaction by a prince who was designated “Ath Arcaria” or Master of the Elephant Establishment. The Elephant Establishment was called the “Ath panthiya”. The ruins of the ancient cities in Sri Lanka abound with carvings of elephants in many forms, attesting to the close association between man and elephant.
Sinhala literature of the 3rd Century BC indicates that the state elephant or Mangalahatti was the elephant on which the king rode. This elephant was always a tusker and had a special stable called the hatthisala. The post to which it was tethered was called the alheka.
A 12th Century inscription on a stone seat at Polonnaruwa records that King Nissanka Malla sat upon it while watching elephant fights. These fights were staged for the entertainment of nobles.
A rock sculpture of an elephant on the banks of the Mahaweli River was described thus by archaeologist H.C.P. Bell: “This piece of animal sculpture is probably unique in Ceylon. Cut in full round from a rock, life-size, are the head and shoulders of an elephant whose feet the river washed when low. The elephant stands in the water, looking slightly upstream, as though hesitating to cross. At present the river in semi-flood reaches its eyes. There are signs of ‘sets’ for some building’s foundations on a boulder adjoining, but no ruins or inscriptions are known likely to afford a clue to the object of this solitary tour de force of a skilful sculptor,” (Bell & Bell, 1893). Unfortunately this rock sculpture no longer exists having been blasted probably by fishermen dynamiting fish.
The first description of the capture of elephants in 40 AD is by Pliny. Here, the information that he gathered was from the Sinhalese ambassador to the court of the Emperor Claudius.
Elephants were used on all important ceremonial occasions especially where pomp and pageantry were required. The annual Perahera in Kandy, which dates back nearly 220 years, brings together well over a hundred elephants that parade the streets during the nights on certain pre-determined days in July-August each year. New Year festivities in Sri Lanka feature elephants in various sports and competitive combat. Elephant fights were a popular form of Sinhala sport in early times and was called “Gaja Keliya”. Being built like a tank, elephants were used in war not only as a means of transport but also as an instrument of defence and offence. They were used to ram barricades and, as Ives points out “in time of war, they now and then fix a heavy iron chain to the end of their trunks, which they whirl around with such agility, as to make it impossible for an enemy to approach them at that time”.
From the earliest of times there had been a significant demand for Sri Lankan elephants from other countries. Aelian, quoted by Emmerson Tennent in1859, says that the export of elephants from Ceylon to India had been going on without interruption from the period of the First Punic War. India wanted them for use as war elephants, Myanmar as a tribute from ancient kings and Egypt probably for both war and ceremonial occasions.
The elephants from Sri Lanka were found to easily adapt for war and were considered better than those from the mainland. Their excellent qualities were well known to the Greeks even as far back as the 3rd Century BC, in the time of Alexander the Great. Onescritus, who was an Admiral of the Fleet of Alexander the Great and probably the first European to describe the trained elephants of Ceylon, has stated that the elephants from Taprobane (later Ceylon and then Sri Lanka) “are bigger, more fierce and furious for war service than those of India,”. Greek writers like Megasthenes (circa 300 BC) and Aelian (44AD) corroborate this. Sixth Century writer Cosmos Indicopleustes says that the elephant from Sri Lanka was highly priced in India for its excellence in war.
Elephants from Sri Lanka were exported to Kalinga by special boats from about 200 BC. From the port of Mantai the present day Mannar. Such exports are also recorded by Ptolemy in 175 AD.
By this time Sri Lanka had also earned a reputation for skilled elephant management. The Sinhala kings had special elephant trainers. They were the Kuruwe people from Kegalle. Training elephants caught from the wild, for both traditional purposes and war, was the responsibility of these people. Even persons (mahouts) who looked after the elephants after their training were trained by the Kuruwe people. A brass model of an elephant with a number of movable joints was used in the training of the mahouts.
Records show that even though Sri Lanka was exporting a large number of elephants in the 5th and 6th centuries BC, a number of elephants were also imported into the country after the 4th Century BC. This is apart from the gifts that the ruling monarchs of India and Myanmar, (then Burma) sent from time to time.
The Culavamsa (Ch. LXXVI) records that during the reign of King Parakrama Bahu (1153-1186 AD), King Ramana of Myanmar decreed that the practice of selling elephants from his kingdom for export should henceforth be stopped. “Moreover with evil intent, the king also set a high price on the beasts, commanding that the elephants which were sold in former times for a hundred nikkhalas of silver, or a thousand, should now be sold for two thousand or three thousand and he likewise put an end to the ancient custom of giving an elephant to every ship that bore presents to the king [of Sri Lanka].” The chronicle goes on to say that Prakrama Bahu made war on the King of Burma and subdued him. Later, the Burmese relented and said “Take henceforth from us as yearly tribute, as many elephants as are necessary.”
Records of the 12th Century AD again show that elephants continued to be imported from Burma. The export of elephants too continued and this is confirmed from time to time by writers on Ceylon - Sinhala Chronicles (15th Century), Athanasius Nikitin the Russian traveller (1470). Add-er-Razzak (1442) refers to the trade in elephants between Calicut and Ceylon. Andrea Corsall and Durate Barbosa (1514) refer to the Royal monopoly of elephants - a good elephant fetched 1,500 ducats on the Malabar Coast at that time. Ribeiro (1836) states that “As the Ceylon elephant was superior, traders were prepared to pay twice or even up to four times for them compared to elephants from other countries.”
There are a number of references in early writings to man’s association with and his use of elephants. The Mahawamsa (Sri Lanka’s chronicle of history) details many such instances, especially that of Kandula the elephant on which King Dutugamunu (200 BC), rode to war. Dutch, Portuguese and British reports and books record several instances of elepant capture, their use by the Sinhala Kings in their armies, elephant fights and the execution of criminals by elephants. In certain instances the strength of a King or Potentate was judged by the number of elephants he used in war.
The King of Kandy maintained a special unit that dealt with all matters concerning elephants including their capture, training, conservation and export. This unit was under the chief officer known as the Gajanayake Nilame. The Gajanayake Nilame, was of a high caste and received many favours, including land, from the king. The elephant catchers and keepers were from the lower castes.
During the times of the Sinhala kings, even though there were tens of thousands of elephants in all parts of the country, this animal was afforded complete protection by royal decree. Accordingly, no elephant could be captured, killed or maimed without the king’s authority. All offenders were punished by death. Unlike today the cultivators of that time could not plead that the elephants were harmed in the protection of their crops. Any depredation or damage to crops by wild elephants had to be prevented by stout fencing together with organized and effective watching by the farmers. It is interesting to note that though there were many more elephants then than now, Sri Lanka was considered to be the granary of the East.
When the Portuguese captured the maritime provinces of Sri Lanka they found a flourishing export trade in elephants. They too, quickly got involved in the elephant export trade, and at first obtained their elephants as tribute from the Sinhala people through their leaders. Thereafter they captured animals on their own. The Portuguese also set up a revenue-gathering unit, similar to the king’s organization, known as the Elephant Hunt. Abeysinghe (1966) wrote that the Portuguese maintained an annual demand of 37 elephants for export from two kraals. These were valued at 9,250 rix dollars which was equal to 15% of the total revenue of the state.
In 1507 the Viceroy of India sent a gift of a small elephant, imported from Ceylon, to King Manuel of Portugal. After seven years in Lisbon this elephant, named Annone, was presented to Pope Leo X and moved to Rome. Annone lived in Rome for three years but died after developing stomach trouble due to the variety of food given to it by visitors and admirers. There is a memorial in Rome to Annone the first elephant in the Vatican (Hulugalle, 1969).
The King’s Elephant Unit continued to operate within the Kandyan kingdom even after the Portuguese occupation of the Maritime Provinces. Latterly however, the function of the King’s Elephant Unit was only to supply the king’s army with elephants. This was because with the development of cannons and musketry, the elephant was both frightened and vulnerable, and its export demand as an instrument of war was greatly reduced. During the reign of the Portuguese the person in charge of the Elephant Hunt was called the Gajanayake. The Gajanayake was in charge of stables at Matara. This was a large establishment. In 1697 there were 97 elephants in the stables at Matara. Baldeus wrote, in 1704, of a place in Matara where captured wild elephants were tamed before they were sold to buyers who came from the Coramandel Coast and Bengal. A very large stable had been built to house these animals. These stables at Matara are the site of the present Kachcheri. The animals apparently were bathed twice a day in a nearby river, very likely the Nilwala. Tame elephants were used as monitors and trainers.
Those people who were sent into the jungles to look for suitable herds of elephants to be captured in kraals were called Baddenas. When the herds were sighted, the Dissawa of the area was informed and he in turn gave instructions for arrangements to be made to hold the kraal.
The men, numbering over a thousand, were divided into four groups under a leader called a Hattrebethmarale. The Aratchies were those in charge of the trappers who noosed the elephants once there were inside the Kraal and also trained the captured elephants.
In 1586 the king of Kandy, Rajasingha I, led an army which included a strong force of 2,200 highly trained elephants for fighting and for other services, and laid siege on the Portuguese fort in Colombo. The siege however, was not successful.
It is recorded that, in 1706, the king of Kandy had in his stables over 300 tuskers. The elephant was used less and less for war and subsequently only for ceremonial occasions.
In 1656 the Dutch laid siege on the Fort of Colombo held by the Portuguese. Ribeiro, the Portuguese soldier and historian, records that all the elephants in the Fort excepting one, were eaten by the defenders as they ran short of food after a time. Only one elephant was spared because it was needed to carry timber to repair the defences that were being damaged by the attackers.
Robert Knox, a Scotsman, who was a prisoner in the Kandyan kingdom for nearly 20 years, writing in the 17th Century, stated “that the King makes use of them (elephants) as executioners: they will run their teeth [tusks] through the body, and then tear it in pieces, and throw it limb for limb. They have a sharp iron with a socket with three edges, which they put on their teeth at such times; for the elephants that are kept have all the ends of their teeth cut to make them grow better, and they do grow out again.
Sirr (1850) also says that elephants were used as executioners of criminals, by training them to crush the victim’s limbs and placing one of its legs on the man’s body, tear off the limbs. Fortunately, the use of the mild tempered elephants for such gruesome executions has long been stopped.
Pybus states that the Dutch had to obtain permission from the king of Kandy to capture elephants which were within his domain. The king generally agreed to the Dutch capturing 20 to 30 animals each year, but the Dutch constantly exceeded this figure, capturing around 150 each year and 200 in one year. They continued to use the elephant stables at Matara referred to earlier.
Elephants were also exported by the Dutch from Karativu island. The elephants were driven into the Jaffna peninsula by a shallow ford that separated it from the mainland. This ford has now been bridged and given the name Elephant Pass. The Dutch held an annual sale of elephants in Jaffna. Elephants caught in Kraals and those received as tribute were sold there. Buyers from the Coramandel and the Bengal coasts continued to attend these sales regularly.
The traditional methods of capture by noosing etc. were practised for a much longer period. However, in 1761 the Dutch Governor Becker made a decree prohibiting the use of pits and nooses for the capture of elephants. This was in a bid to keep the mortality rate among the captive elephants low. The form of noosing practised in northern Ceylon was different to the noosing methods of the Eastern Province and other parts of the country. A large noose was suspended from a strong tree with a man or several men on the tree to manipulate the noose. Elephants were then driven towards the tree with the noose. With this ban, kraaling became the only method of capture that could be employed.
When the British captured the Maritime Provinces from the Dutch in 1796, and later the Kandyan Kingdom in 1815, they continued the capture of elephants for some time but on a low-priority basis. The British however, indulged in the shooting of elephants as a form of sport. Elephant populations that had been able to withstand the detrimental effects of capture all these years now started diminishing rapidly with the wanton and indiscriminate destruction of the elephant herds.
Major Thomas Rogers is credited with having shot over 1,500 elephants. This works out to an average of one elephant being killed by him every day for four years. Two others, Captain Galleway and Major Skinner are reputed to have shot half that number each. Many other ‘sportsmen’ have shot in the region of 250-300 animals during this time.
As the elephant was a threat to the agricultural activities of the rural population, the British provided guns freely to villagers to keep away the marauding elephants from their cultivations. This action, which seemed necessary at that time, added to the destruction of the elephant. Farmers, who had hitherto protected their crops from marauding elephants by other means, now had a much easier method. They shot at them and either maimed or killed them.
The British were also interested in developing plantation crops in addition to subsistence crops. British planters, who were opening up the railways and roads along with coffee and later tea plantations, also shot trespassing elephants at will. Here again the purported protection of their crops seemed to justify their actions. The planters combined their sport and the protection of their plantations and shot elephants at will, so much so that the once large elephant population in the hills dwindled rapidly.
The British did away with the Elephant Department started by the Sinhalese and the Elephant Hunt maintained for the occupied areas by the Portuguese and the Dutch. They also greatly reduced the number of kraals that were held. In fact in 1828 the British passed a law prohibiting the capture of elephants except for the government. This law was rescinded in 1831. The Kandyan chiefs, however, continued holding kraals and it is recorded that from 1800 to 1900, fifty two kraals were held. The last Kraal was held in 1952.
http://artsrilanka.org/essays/elephants/index.html
Various methods of capture were employed, some indigenous, others introduced by neighbouring kings and countries that conquered and ruled Sri Lanka. Gradually the number of elephants captured increased. All elephants were kept by the king in his stables. The methods of capture were refined and modified as time went on.
Elephants, suitably caparisoned, have and still take part in ceremonial, cultural and religious pageants and processions. Elephants have been used by man in his wars in Europe and Asia. They have assisted him in his logging operations and construction works. In this country too elephants have fought in wars and featured in various sports and combat during Sinhala celebrations. In India they have provided transportation for sportsmen indulging in shikars.
During the time of the Sinhala kings the elephant was afforded complete protection by royal decree. The penalty for killing an elephant was death. With the advent of the British this protection was withdrawn. Large numbers of elephants were killed by the British under the guise of sport. Not only did the British government encourage and condone killings as a sport but it also paid a bounty for each elephant killed, deeming the elephant an agricultural pest.
In Sri Lanka the variations in physical appearance amongst elephants were noticed and recorded in ancient Sinhala manuscripts. There are ten such groups or ‘castes’. These differences do not seem important now.
The first record of the association between man and elephant in Sri Lanka was recorded in the 1st Century BC on an inscription at Navalar Kulam in Panama Pattu in the Eastern Province, of a religious benefaction by a prince who was designated “Ath Arcaria” or Master of the Elephant Establishment. The Elephant Establishment was called the “Ath panthiya”. The ruins of the ancient cities in Sri Lanka abound with carvings of elephants in many forms, attesting to the close association between man and elephant.
Sinhala literature of the 3rd Century BC indicates that the state elephant or Mangalahatti was the elephant on which the king rode. This elephant was always a tusker and had a special stable called the hatthisala. The post to which it was tethered was called the alheka.
A 12th Century inscription on a stone seat at Polonnaruwa records that King Nissanka Malla sat upon it while watching elephant fights. These fights were staged for the entertainment of nobles.
A rock sculpture of an elephant on the banks of the Mahaweli River was described thus by archaeologist H.C.P. Bell: “This piece of animal sculpture is probably unique in Ceylon. Cut in full round from a rock, life-size, are the head and shoulders of an elephant whose feet the river washed when low. The elephant stands in the water, looking slightly upstream, as though hesitating to cross. At present the river in semi-flood reaches its eyes. There are signs of ‘sets’ for some building’s foundations on a boulder adjoining, but no ruins or inscriptions are known likely to afford a clue to the object of this solitary tour de force of a skilful sculptor,” (Bell & Bell, 1893). Unfortunately this rock sculpture no longer exists having been blasted probably by fishermen dynamiting fish.
The first description of the capture of elephants in 40 AD is by Pliny. Here, the information that he gathered was from the Sinhalese ambassador to the court of the Emperor Claudius.
Elephants were used on all important ceremonial occasions especially where pomp and pageantry were required. The annual Perahera in Kandy, which dates back nearly 220 years, brings together well over a hundred elephants that parade the streets during the nights on certain pre-determined days in July-August each year. New Year festivities in Sri Lanka feature elephants in various sports and competitive combat. Elephant fights were a popular form of Sinhala sport in early times and was called “Gaja Keliya”. Being built like a tank, elephants were used in war not only as a means of transport but also as an instrument of defence and offence. They were used to ram barricades and, as Ives points out “in time of war, they now and then fix a heavy iron chain to the end of their trunks, which they whirl around with such agility, as to make it impossible for an enemy to approach them at that time”.
From the earliest of times there had been a significant demand for Sri Lankan elephants from other countries. Aelian, quoted by Emmerson Tennent in1859, says that the export of elephants from Ceylon to India had been going on without interruption from the period of the First Punic War. India wanted them for use as war elephants, Myanmar as a tribute from ancient kings and Egypt probably for both war and ceremonial occasions.
The elephants from Sri Lanka were found to easily adapt for war and were considered better than those from the mainland. Their excellent qualities were well known to the Greeks even as far back as the 3rd Century BC, in the time of Alexander the Great. Onescritus, who was an Admiral of the Fleet of Alexander the Great and probably the first European to describe the trained elephants of Ceylon, has stated that the elephants from Taprobane (later Ceylon and then Sri Lanka) “are bigger, more fierce and furious for war service than those of India,”. Greek writers like Megasthenes (circa 300 BC) and Aelian (44AD) corroborate this. Sixth Century writer Cosmos Indicopleustes says that the elephant from Sri Lanka was highly priced in India for its excellence in war.
Elephants from Sri Lanka were exported to Kalinga by special boats from about 200 BC. From the port of Mantai the present day Mannar. Such exports are also recorded by Ptolemy in 175 AD.
By this time Sri Lanka had also earned a reputation for skilled elephant management. The Sinhala kings had special elephant trainers. They were the Kuruwe people from Kegalle. Training elephants caught from the wild, for both traditional purposes and war, was the responsibility of these people. Even persons (mahouts) who looked after the elephants after their training were trained by the Kuruwe people. A brass model of an elephant with a number of movable joints was used in the training of the mahouts.
Records show that even though Sri Lanka was exporting a large number of elephants in the 5th and 6th centuries BC, a number of elephants were also imported into the country after the 4th Century BC. This is apart from the gifts that the ruling monarchs of India and Myanmar, (then Burma) sent from time to time.
The Culavamsa (Ch. LXXVI) records that during the reign of King Parakrama Bahu (1153-1186 AD), King Ramana of Myanmar decreed that the practice of selling elephants from his kingdom for export should henceforth be stopped. “Moreover with evil intent, the king also set a high price on the beasts, commanding that the elephants which were sold in former times for a hundred nikkhalas of silver, or a thousand, should now be sold for two thousand or three thousand and he likewise put an end to the ancient custom of giving an elephant to every ship that bore presents to the king [of Sri Lanka].” The chronicle goes on to say that Prakrama Bahu made war on the King of Burma and subdued him. Later, the Burmese relented and said “Take henceforth from us as yearly tribute, as many elephants as are necessary.”
Records of the 12th Century AD again show that elephants continued to be imported from Burma. The export of elephants too continued and this is confirmed from time to time by writers on Ceylon - Sinhala Chronicles (15th Century), Athanasius Nikitin the Russian traveller (1470). Add-er-Razzak (1442) refers to the trade in elephants between Calicut and Ceylon. Andrea Corsall and Durate Barbosa (1514) refer to the Royal monopoly of elephants - a good elephant fetched 1,500 ducats on the Malabar Coast at that time. Ribeiro (1836) states that “As the Ceylon elephant was superior, traders were prepared to pay twice or even up to four times for them compared to elephants from other countries.”
There are a number of references in early writings to man’s association with and his use of elephants. The Mahawamsa (Sri Lanka’s chronicle of history) details many such instances, especially that of Kandula the elephant on which King Dutugamunu (200 BC), rode to war. Dutch, Portuguese and British reports and books record several instances of elepant capture, their use by the Sinhala Kings in their armies, elephant fights and the execution of criminals by elephants. In certain instances the strength of a King or Potentate was judged by the number of elephants he used in war.
The King of Kandy maintained a special unit that dealt with all matters concerning elephants including their capture, training, conservation and export. This unit was under the chief officer known as the Gajanayake Nilame. The Gajanayake Nilame, was of a high caste and received many favours, including land, from the king. The elephant catchers and keepers were from the lower castes.
During the times of the Sinhala kings, even though there were tens of thousands of elephants in all parts of the country, this animal was afforded complete protection by royal decree. Accordingly, no elephant could be captured, killed or maimed without the king’s authority. All offenders were punished by death. Unlike today the cultivators of that time could not plead that the elephants were harmed in the protection of their crops. Any depredation or damage to crops by wild elephants had to be prevented by stout fencing together with organized and effective watching by the farmers. It is interesting to note that though there were many more elephants then than now, Sri Lanka was considered to be the granary of the East.
When the Portuguese captured the maritime provinces of Sri Lanka they found a flourishing export trade in elephants. They too, quickly got involved in the elephant export trade, and at first obtained their elephants as tribute from the Sinhala people through their leaders. Thereafter they captured animals on their own. The Portuguese also set up a revenue-gathering unit, similar to the king’s organization, known as the Elephant Hunt. Abeysinghe (1966) wrote that the Portuguese maintained an annual demand of 37 elephants for export from two kraals. These were valued at 9,250 rix dollars which was equal to 15% of the total revenue of the state.
In 1507 the Viceroy of India sent a gift of a small elephant, imported from Ceylon, to King Manuel of Portugal. After seven years in Lisbon this elephant, named Annone, was presented to Pope Leo X and moved to Rome. Annone lived in Rome for three years but died after developing stomach trouble due to the variety of food given to it by visitors and admirers. There is a memorial in Rome to Annone the first elephant in the Vatican (Hulugalle, 1969).
The King’s Elephant Unit continued to operate within the Kandyan kingdom even after the Portuguese occupation of the Maritime Provinces. Latterly however, the function of the King’s Elephant Unit was only to supply the king’s army with elephants. This was because with the development of cannons and musketry, the elephant was both frightened and vulnerable, and its export demand as an instrument of war was greatly reduced. During the reign of the Portuguese the person in charge of the Elephant Hunt was called the Gajanayake. The Gajanayake was in charge of stables at Matara. This was a large establishment. In 1697 there were 97 elephants in the stables at Matara. Baldeus wrote, in 1704, of a place in Matara where captured wild elephants were tamed before they were sold to buyers who came from the Coramandel Coast and Bengal. A very large stable had been built to house these animals. These stables at Matara are the site of the present Kachcheri. The animals apparently were bathed twice a day in a nearby river, very likely the Nilwala. Tame elephants were used as monitors and trainers.
Those people who were sent into the jungles to look for suitable herds of elephants to be captured in kraals were called Baddenas. When the herds were sighted, the Dissawa of the area was informed and he in turn gave instructions for arrangements to be made to hold the kraal.
The men, numbering over a thousand, were divided into four groups under a leader called a Hattrebethmarale. The Aratchies were those in charge of the trappers who noosed the elephants once there were inside the Kraal and also trained the captured elephants.
In 1586 the king of Kandy, Rajasingha I, led an army which included a strong force of 2,200 highly trained elephants for fighting and for other services, and laid siege on the Portuguese fort in Colombo. The siege however, was not successful.
It is recorded that, in 1706, the king of Kandy had in his stables over 300 tuskers. The elephant was used less and less for war and subsequently only for ceremonial occasions.
In 1656 the Dutch laid siege on the Fort of Colombo held by the Portuguese. Ribeiro, the Portuguese soldier and historian, records that all the elephants in the Fort excepting one, were eaten by the defenders as they ran short of food after a time. Only one elephant was spared because it was needed to carry timber to repair the defences that were being damaged by the attackers.
Robert Knox, a Scotsman, who was a prisoner in the Kandyan kingdom for nearly 20 years, writing in the 17th Century, stated “that the King makes use of them (elephants) as executioners: they will run their teeth [tusks] through the body, and then tear it in pieces, and throw it limb for limb. They have a sharp iron with a socket with three edges, which they put on their teeth at such times; for the elephants that are kept have all the ends of their teeth cut to make them grow better, and they do grow out again.
Sirr (1850) also says that elephants were used as executioners of criminals, by training them to crush the victim’s limbs and placing one of its legs on the man’s body, tear off the limbs. Fortunately, the use of the mild tempered elephants for such gruesome executions has long been stopped.
Pybus states that the Dutch had to obtain permission from the king of Kandy to capture elephants which were within his domain. The king generally agreed to the Dutch capturing 20 to 30 animals each year, but the Dutch constantly exceeded this figure, capturing around 150 each year and 200 in one year. They continued to use the elephant stables at Matara referred to earlier.
Elephants were also exported by the Dutch from Karativu island. The elephants were driven into the Jaffna peninsula by a shallow ford that separated it from the mainland. This ford has now been bridged and given the name Elephant Pass. The Dutch held an annual sale of elephants in Jaffna. Elephants caught in Kraals and those received as tribute were sold there. Buyers from the Coramandel and the Bengal coasts continued to attend these sales regularly.
The traditional methods of capture by noosing etc. were practised for a much longer period. However, in 1761 the Dutch Governor Becker made a decree prohibiting the use of pits and nooses for the capture of elephants. This was in a bid to keep the mortality rate among the captive elephants low. The form of noosing practised in northern Ceylon was different to the noosing methods of the Eastern Province and other parts of the country. A large noose was suspended from a strong tree with a man or several men on the tree to manipulate the noose. Elephants were then driven towards the tree with the noose. With this ban, kraaling became the only method of capture that could be employed.
When the British captured the Maritime Provinces from the Dutch in 1796, and later the Kandyan Kingdom in 1815, they continued the capture of elephants for some time but on a low-priority basis. The British however, indulged in the shooting of elephants as a form of sport. Elephant populations that had been able to withstand the detrimental effects of capture all these years now started diminishing rapidly with the wanton and indiscriminate destruction of the elephant herds.
Major Thomas Rogers is credited with having shot over 1,500 elephants. This works out to an average of one elephant being killed by him every day for four years. Two others, Captain Galleway and Major Skinner are reputed to have shot half that number each. Many other ‘sportsmen’ have shot in the region of 250-300 animals during this time.
As the elephant was a threat to the agricultural activities of the rural population, the British provided guns freely to villagers to keep away the marauding elephants from their cultivations. This action, which seemed necessary at that time, added to the destruction of the elephant. Farmers, who had hitherto protected their crops from marauding elephants by other means, now had a much easier method. They shot at them and either maimed or killed them.
The British were also interested in developing plantation crops in addition to subsistence crops. British planters, who were opening up the railways and roads along with coffee and later tea plantations, also shot trespassing elephants at will. Here again the purported protection of their crops seemed to justify their actions. The planters combined their sport and the protection of their plantations and shot elephants at will, so much so that the once large elephant population in the hills dwindled rapidly.
The British did away with the Elephant Department started by the Sinhalese and the Elephant Hunt maintained for the occupied areas by the Portuguese and the Dutch. They also greatly reduced the number of kraals that were held. In fact in 1828 the British passed a law prohibiting the capture of elephants except for the government. This law was rescinded in 1831. The Kandyan chiefs, however, continued holding kraals and it is recorded that from 1800 to 1900, fifty two kraals were held. The last Kraal was held in 1952.
http://artsrilanka.org/essays/elephants/index.html
WHAT MAKES ELEPHANTS TICK?
A STANFORD RESEARCHER UNLOCKS SOME BEHAVIORAL MYSTERIES.
By Melinda Sacks
The first time Osh stood on the metal plate designed to test how he'd respond to ground vibrations, the 15-year-old African elephant was so curious he used his trunk to rip the heavy slab right out of the ground. Researcher Caitlin O'Connell-Rodwell, equipped with backups for most of her electronic devices, hadn't anticipated this. But improvising and solving problems on the spot are part of her daily repertoire, whether she is collaborating with Oakland zookeepers to study Osh and Donna, another resident African elephant, or camped out in Etosha National Park in Namibia, where for the past 17 years she has researched the remarkable communication techniques of wild elephants.
O'Connell-Rodwell's book The Elephant's Secret Sense: The Hidden Life of the Wild Herds of Africa was published in 2007. Her findings have been enlightening and may lead to advances ranging from new listening devices for the hearing impaired to a deeper understanding of elephant intelligence and the impact of climate fluctuations on elephant behavior and conservation.
O'Connell-Rodwell is an ecologist and assistant professor consulting in otolaryngology/head and neck surgery at the Medical School. She splits her time between Stanford, her home in San Diego, and Africa, where she has developed a longstanding relationship with park officials who have "grandfathered in" her project studying elephants at a remote water hole normally closed to the public.
"There are a lot of interesting new things coming out," says O'Connell-Rodwell, whose forthcoming book is The Boys Club: An Elephantine Take on Male Society (Harvard U. Press). "The new research shows that male elephants have long-term associations that are highly affiliative," O'Connell-Rodwell says. "What is known about elephant bulls is that they get pushed out of family groups when they reach sexual maturity; this action is thought to prevent inbreeding. These males are then thought to form loose bachelor groups at times and often end up being solitary. But our long-term study shows that many males form discrete bonded groups. This finding is unexpected, different than what anyone thought about male elephants."
O'Connell-Rodwell's research in Etosha also led to the discovery that elephants communicate through a previously unknown system of sensing and responding to vibrations they receive through the bottoms of their feet. Not only can they anticipate other elephants approaching or even traveling several miles away, but they also react differently to vibrations from elephants familiar to them than to those from strangers. Data suggest that her subjects could pick up on weather changes such as thunder and downpours that would help them find water or green plants to eat, as well as alert them to nearby predators or potential mates.
The discovery of this ground communication system came about when O'Connell-Rodwell observed how elephants would intermittently stop and position themselves all pointing in one direction, ears flattened to their heads, some with their trunks touching the ground. Through experiments in which she played acoustic and seismic signals for the elephants at the water hole, she learned they were receiving information through the ground that started with sensation in the toe tips and traveled through the leg up to the middle ear. Another pathway went from the feet through the somatosensory system to the brain.
"I think Caitlin's work has really opened up realms of unknown areas in elephant society and communication that change the way we perceive the species and will change how we are going to manage the species," says George Wittemyer, a leading elephant researcher at UC-Berkeley.
"The mystery for decades has been how elephants move the group and orient themselves and why they freeze in odd ways. People have speculated on what drives this, but Caitlin has answered the questions and has opened our eyes to new aspects of elephant ecology in areas never before understood."
O'Connell-Rodwell's fascination with elephants and her research grew out of a chance job offer during a trip to Africa with her husband, fellow researcher Tim Rodwell, MD '03. The Namibian government hired her to work with farmers struggling to deter wild elephants that were destroying their crops. She came up with some short-term and long-term plans involving sound and electrical fencing deterrents, and slowly built trust with the farmers, helping to generate a more positive attitude toward elephants.
Today, O'Connell-Rodwell spends summers living in a three-story tower with ladders connecting each level. Constructed right beside Mushara Water Hole within Etosha National Park, the camp boasts a bush shower and toilet, and a StairMaster that enables researchers to exercise without going outside the enclosed camp, where it often isn't safe.
The team includes a core of scientists and a couple of Stanford students paired with local Namibian students. Through the nonprofit organization Utopia Scientific—formed by O'Connell-Rodwell and her husband—teachers, photographers, writers and others can volunteer for two weeks as members of the team. Volunteer fees help support the organization's elephant studies and mission of promoting public awareness about the importance of research and conservation.
A typical day at the water hole starts and ends late to follow the elephants' patterns. The males usually arrive before noon. At dusk, females begin gathering on the horizon, but they normally won't come with their calves until sunset. Researchers identify, count and observe the groups, conducting sound and vibration experiments and gathering fecal samples to help determine family relatedness, general stress levels and parasite loads. Then they compare and analyze notes on who's who and which groups are associating with each other on any particular visit.
"Lately our experiments have been mostly observing the bull interactions," says O'Connell-Rodwell. "They are doing really interesting things. They are incredibly bonded and display fascinating ritualistic behaviors."
For example, younger males demonstrate their submissiveness to the alpha males by lining up and one by one placing the tip of their trunk in the mouth of the dominant male. It's "an invitation to interact, as if to say, 'I see you, I am submissive and I won't cause any trouble,'" says O'Connell-Rodwell. "It has been really interesting to have this window into a secret society."
At home in California, O'Connell-Rodwell has been working with trainers at the Oakland Zoo to teach two African elephants, Donna and Osh, to respond to sounds and vibrations so that she can determine the level at which elephants detect vibrations.
On a recent sunny day at the bottom of the Oakland Zoo elephant pen, O'Connell-Rodwell set up her little folding table and her elaborate homemade listening equipment, which is wired to the plate on which Donna or Osh will stand. Under the plate she has installed a vibrating machine purchased from a home theater store. Trainer Colleen Kinzley lures Donna down the hill to the research spot where the elephant stands impatiently munching on horse treats and awaiting her first round of prompts. Both elephants are being trained to give their responses by touching a square post to their right that signals "yes" or a triangular one on the left that means "no." When they give the correct answer, they are rewarded with a treat. Once they can reliably signal whether O'Connell-Rodwell has sent them a vibration, they can be asked other questions.
"It's really nice for the zoo to participate in the research and it allows us to learn more about the elephants," says Kinzley, who has traveled to Namibia with O'Connell-Rodwell five times to help with fieldwork.
Once Donna and Osh are trained to "answer questions," O'Connell-Rodwell foresees new avenues for extending her work. "Researchers suggest that elephants have cognitive ability and since elephants have a very large temporal lobe relative to other mammals, where communication and long-term memory are processed, they are a great candidate to look for the capacity for cognition," she says.
"If the elephant can look at a real object and can recognize that object in a picture, that is a first step. Then you go into more levels—does the pumpkin still look the same in 3D? You put a real pumpkin in the pen after showing the photo, and see if they go to the site illustrated in the photo. That is how you get to that next level of the elephant having referential thought about an object. Have you created a picture of it in your mind? We are at the tip of the iceberg."
http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2009/sepoct/farm/news/elephant.html
O'Connell-Rodwell's book The Elephant's Secret Sense: The Hidden Life of the Wild Herds of Africa was published in 2007. Her findings have been enlightening and may lead to advances ranging from new listening devices for the hearing impaired to a deeper understanding of elephant intelligence and the impact of climate fluctuations on elephant behavior and conservation.
O'Connell-Rodwell is an ecologist and assistant professor consulting in otolaryngology/head and neck surgery at the Medical School. She splits her time between Stanford, her home in San Diego, and Africa, where she has developed a longstanding relationship with park officials who have "grandfathered in" her project studying elephants at a remote water hole normally closed to the public.
"There are a lot of interesting new things coming out," says O'Connell-Rodwell, whose forthcoming book is The Boys Club: An Elephantine Take on Male Society (Harvard U. Press). "The new research shows that male elephants have long-term associations that are highly affiliative," O'Connell-Rodwell says. "What is known about elephant bulls is that they get pushed out of family groups when they reach sexual maturity; this action is thought to prevent inbreeding. These males are then thought to form loose bachelor groups at times and often end up being solitary. But our long-term study shows that many males form discrete bonded groups. This finding is unexpected, different than what anyone thought about male elephants."
O'Connell-Rodwell's research in Etosha also led to the discovery that elephants communicate through a previously unknown system of sensing and responding to vibrations they receive through the bottoms of their feet. Not only can they anticipate other elephants approaching or even traveling several miles away, but they also react differently to vibrations from elephants familiar to them than to those from strangers. Data suggest that her subjects could pick up on weather changes such as thunder and downpours that would help them find water or green plants to eat, as well as alert them to nearby predators or potential mates.
The discovery of this ground communication system came about when O'Connell-Rodwell observed how elephants would intermittently stop and position themselves all pointing in one direction, ears flattened to their heads, some with their trunks touching the ground. Through experiments in which she played acoustic and seismic signals for the elephants at the water hole, she learned they were receiving information through the ground that started with sensation in the toe tips and traveled through the leg up to the middle ear. Another pathway went from the feet through the somatosensory system to the brain.
"I think Caitlin's work has really opened up realms of unknown areas in elephant society and communication that change the way we perceive the species and will change how we are going to manage the species," says George Wittemyer, a leading elephant researcher at UC-Berkeley.
"The mystery for decades has been how elephants move the group and orient themselves and why they freeze in odd ways. People have speculated on what drives this, but Caitlin has answered the questions and has opened our eyes to new aspects of elephant ecology in areas never before understood."
O'Connell-Rodwell's fascination with elephants and her research grew out of a chance job offer during a trip to Africa with her husband, fellow researcher Tim Rodwell, MD '03. The Namibian government hired her to work with farmers struggling to deter wild elephants that were destroying their crops. She came up with some short-term and long-term plans involving sound and electrical fencing deterrents, and slowly built trust with the farmers, helping to generate a more positive attitude toward elephants.
Today, O'Connell-Rodwell spends summers living in a three-story tower with ladders connecting each level. Constructed right beside Mushara Water Hole within Etosha National Park, the camp boasts a bush shower and toilet, and a StairMaster that enables researchers to exercise without going outside the enclosed camp, where it often isn't safe.
The team includes a core of scientists and a couple of Stanford students paired with local Namibian students. Through the nonprofit organization Utopia Scientific—formed by O'Connell-Rodwell and her husband—teachers, photographers, writers and others can volunteer for two weeks as members of the team. Volunteer fees help support the organization's elephant studies and mission of promoting public awareness about the importance of research and conservation.
A typical day at the water hole starts and ends late to follow the elephants' patterns. The males usually arrive before noon. At dusk, females begin gathering on the horizon, but they normally won't come with their calves until sunset. Researchers identify, count and observe the groups, conducting sound and vibration experiments and gathering fecal samples to help determine family relatedness, general stress levels and parasite loads. Then they compare and analyze notes on who's who and which groups are associating with each other on any particular visit.
"Lately our experiments have been mostly observing the bull interactions," says O'Connell-Rodwell. "They are doing really interesting things. They are incredibly bonded and display fascinating ritualistic behaviors."
For example, younger males demonstrate their submissiveness to the alpha males by lining up and one by one placing the tip of their trunk in the mouth of the dominant male. It's "an invitation to interact, as if to say, 'I see you, I am submissive and I won't cause any trouble,'" says O'Connell-Rodwell. "It has been really interesting to have this window into a secret society."
At home in California, O'Connell-Rodwell has been working with trainers at the Oakland Zoo to teach two African elephants, Donna and Osh, to respond to sounds and vibrations so that she can determine the level at which elephants detect vibrations.
On a recent sunny day at the bottom of the Oakland Zoo elephant pen, O'Connell-Rodwell set up her little folding table and her elaborate homemade listening equipment, which is wired to the plate on which Donna or Osh will stand. Under the plate she has installed a vibrating machine purchased from a home theater store. Trainer Colleen Kinzley lures Donna down the hill to the research spot where the elephant stands impatiently munching on horse treats and awaiting her first round of prompts. Both elephants are being trained to give their responses by touching a square post to their right that signals "yes" or a triangular one on the left that means "no." When they give the correct answer, they are rewarded with a treat. Once they can reliably signal whether O'Connell-Rodwell has sent them a vibration, they can be asked other questions.
"It's really nice for the zoo to participate in the research and it allows us to learn more about the elephants," says Kinzley, who has traveled to Namibia with O'Connell-Rodwell five times to help with fieldwork.
Once Donna and Osh are trained to "answer questions," O'Connell-Rodwell foresees new avenues for extending her work. "Researchers suggest that elephants have cognitive ability and since elephants have a very large temporal lobe relative to other mammals, where communication and long-term memory are processed, they are a great candidate to look for the capacity for cognition," she says.
"If the elephant can look at a real object and can recognize that object in a picture, that is a first step. Then you go into more levels—does the pumpkin still look the same in 3D? You put a real pumpkin in the pen after showing the photo, and see if they go to the site illustrated in the photo. That is how you get to that next level of the elephant having referential thought about an object. Have you created a picture of it in your mind? We are at the tip of the iceberg."
http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2009/sepoct/farm/news/elephant.html
HOW DO ANIMALS COMMUNICATE?
Humans have invented new and advanced ways of communicating with each other. Television, radio, telephones and of course email. You will be surprised to know that animals who seem to have very simple methods of communication - using their bodies and voices - are also capable of long distance communication.
Foot stomping and low frequency rumbling created by elephants can travel upto 20 miles and is used by elephants to signal other herds or members, says an article in the Hindu newspaper.
Seismic communication
An elephant often launches a mock charge along with stomps, frantic screaming and ear flapping if it feels threatened. Elephant researchers have discovered that there is more to such a mock charge than obvious to the eye.
Foot stomping and low-frequency rumbling generate waves in the ground that can travel nearly 20 miles along the surface of the Earth, the article said quoting a study in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA).
It is even more surprising to know that elephants may be able to sense these vibrations through their feet and interpret them as warning signals of a distant danger. These waves travel from their toe nails to the ear via their bones and special receptors (nerves which can receive signals like those in our ear) in the foot. This way elephants may be able to communicate over long distances, says the study.
Other animals known to communicate through such seismic signals include the golden mole, the elephant seal and a variety of insects, fishes and reptiles.
Fin whales are known to produce low frequency sounds which are used to communicate with other members who may be miles away. Researchers have found that even elephants can produce such sounds and use them as a method of communicating with other herds.
Caitlin O' Connell-Rodwell, author of the JASA study points out that elephants can use their body like an antenna to sense the environment.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C09%5C14%5Cstory_14-9-2009_pg17_11
Foot stomping and low frequency rumbling created by elephants can travel upto 20 miles and is used by elephants to signal other herds or members, says an article in the Hindu newspaper.
Seismic communication
An elephant often launches a mock charge along with stomps, frantic screaming and ear flapping if it feels threatened. Elephant researchers have discovered that there is more to such a mock charge than obvious to the eye.
Foot stomping and low-frequency rumbling generate waves in the ground that can travel nearly 20 miles along the surface of the Earth, the article said quoting a study in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA).
It is even more surprising to know that elephants may be able to sense these vibrations through their feet and interpret them as warning signals of a distant danger. These waves travel from their toe nails to the ear via their bones and special receptors (nerves which can receive signals like those in our ear) in the foot. This way elephants may be able to communicate over long distances, says the study.
Other animals known to communicate through such seismic signals include the golden mole, the elephant seal and a variety of insects, fishes and reptiles.
Fin whales are known to produce low frequency sounds which are used to communicate with other members who may be miles away. Researchers have found that even elephants can produce such sounds and use them as a method of communicating with other herds.
Caitlin O' Connell-Rodwell, author of the JASA study points out that elephants can use their body like an antenna to sense the environment.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C09%5C14%5Cstory_14-9-2009_pg17_11
Use of Elephant Dung as Habitat by Amphibians (Dutch summary of the article)
In het zuidoosten van Sri Lanka heeft Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz in het droge seizoen van 2008 (2 augustus 2008 – 8 september 2008) onderzoek gedaan naar mest van Aziatische olifanten.
Olifanten verteren immers slechts 44% van hun voedsel, wat wil zeggen dat 56% van het voedsel ongebruikt het lichaam terug verlaat (ter vergelijking: paarden en schapen verteren 60-70%). Er blijven in hun mestballen dus nog heel wat onverteerde voedingsbestanddelen achter, tot grote vreugde van vele dieren en planten die daar gebruik van weten te maken.
Olifanten dragen dan ook in belangrijke mate bij aan het in stand houden van het ecosysteem.
Campos-Arceiz zijn bevindingen waren verassend. Hij vond in de uitwerpselen een breed scala van ongewervelde dieren terug zoals kevers, termieten, mieren, spinnen, schorpioenen, duizendpoten en krekels, wat er op duidt dat olifantenmest een klein ecosysteem op zichzelf kan vormen.
Opmerkelijk was echter dat hij in 1,7% van de onderzochte uitwerpselen amfibieën terugvond zoals bijvoorbeeld de smalbekpad (Microhyla ornata), een klein diertje van nog geen drie centimeter groot dat ondanks zijn naam geen pad maar een kikker is.
Amfibieën zoals de smalbekpad leven tussen het bladstrooisel, wat in het droge seizoen echter zeldzaam is.
Omdat olifantenmest grote hoeveelheden onverteerd plantaardig materiaal bevat – in tegenstelling tot mest van holhoornigen (Bovidae) zoals bijvoorbeeld runderen die fijnkorrelig en homogener is – is het ideaal als vervanging voor het strooisel. Vooral overdag maken de kikkers hiervan dankbaar gebruik.
Of amfibieën ook leven van de ongewervelde dieren die huisvesten in de olifantenmest is niet onderzocht.
Het onderzoek van Campos-Arceiz is belangrijk op twee punten:
- olifantenmest als microhabitat voor gewervelde dieren is nog nooit eerder opgetekend geweest;
- het toont aan dat het zeer belangrijk is verder onderzoek te verrichten naar wat de gevolgen zijn voor de Aziatische wouden en bossen als het olifantenbestand zo snel blijft dalen, aangezien nu toch wel duidelijk is dat Aziatische olifanten ecologische stuwers zijn.
Bronnen:
* CAMPOS-ARCEIZ, A., “Shit Happens (to be Useful)! Use of Elephant Dung as Habitat by Amphibians”, Biotropica, 41 (4), blz. 406-407.
* http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smalbekpad
* LUYPAERS, H., “De olifantenstand of infolifant”, Koninklijke Maatschappij voor Dierkunde van Antwerpen vzw, 2009-02-02.
In het zuidoosten van Sri Lanka heeft Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz in het droge seizoen van 2008 (2 augustus 2008 – 8 september 2008) onderzoek gedaan naar mest van Aziatische olifanten.
Olifanten verteren immers slechts 44% van hun voedsel, wat wil zeggen dat 56% van het voedsel ongebruikt het lichaam terug verlaat (ter vergelijking: paarden en schapen verteren 60-70%). Er blijven in hun mestballen dus nog heel wat onverteerde voedingsbestanddelen achter, tot grote vreugde van vele dieren en planten die daar gebruik van weten te maken.
Olifanten dragen dan ook in belangrijke mate bij aan het in stand houden van het ecosysteem.
Campos-Arceiz zijn bevindingen waren verassend. Hij vond in de uitwerpselen een breed scala van ongewervelde dieren terug zoals kevers, termieten, mieren, spinnen, schorpioenen, duizendpoten en krekels, wat er op duidt dat olifantenmest een klein ecosysteem op zichzelf kan vormen.
Opmerkelijk was echter dat hij in 1,7% van de onderzochte uitwerpselen amfibieën terugvond zoals bijvoorbeeld de smalbekpad (Microhyla ornata), een klein diertje van nog geen drie centimeter groot dat ondanks zijn naam geen pad maar een kikker is.
Amfibieën zoals de smalbekpad leven tussen het bladstrooisel, wat in het droge seizoen echter zeldzaam is.
Omdat olifantenmest grote hoeveelheden onverteerd plantaardig materiaal bevat – in tegenstelling tot mest van holhoornigen (Bovidae) zoals bijvoorbeeld runderen die fijnkorrelig en homogener is – is het ideaal als vervanging voor het strooisel. Vooral overdag maken de kikkers hiervan dankbaar gebruik.
Of amfibieën ook leven van de ongewervelde dieren die huisvesten in de olifantenmest is niet onderzocht.
Het onderzoek van Campos-Arceiz is belangrijk op twee punten:
- olifantenmest als microhabitat voor gewervelde dieren is nog nooit eerder opgetekend geweest;
- het toont aan dat het zeer belangrijk is verder onderzoek te verrichten naar wat de gevolgen zijn voor de Aziatische wouden en bossen als het olifantenbestand zo snel blijft dalen, aangezien nu toch wel duidelijk is dat Aziatische olifanten ecologische stuwers zijn.
Bronnen:
* CAMPOS-ARCEIZ, A., “Shit Happens (to be Useful)! Use of Elephant Dung as Habitat by Amphibians”, Biotropica, 41 (4), blz. 406-407.
* http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smalbekpad
* LUYPAERS, H., “De olifantenstand of infolifant”, Koninklijke Maatschappij voor Dierkunde van Antwerpen vzw, 2009-02-02.
| Use of Elephant Dung as Habitat by Amphibians |
