RESEARCH ARTICLE

STUDY BEHAVIOR OF TRANSLOCATED MARAUDING ELEPHANTS IN HOROWPOTHANA ELEPHANT HOLDING GROUND, SRI LANKA

Abstract

A study was done in the Horowpothana Elephant Holding Ground (HEHG) located in the Anuradhapura DWC region, Sri Lanka. Horowpothana National Park (HWNP) was the 23rd national park with 2500 hectares of Department of Wildlife Conservation and in inside of this National Park established a Special Elephant Holding Ground (EHG) covered with special electric fence and it was the one of major solution for Human-Elephant conflict in the Sri Lanka. The EHG in Horowpatha is the world’s first Elephant Holding Ground for most ardency and marauding elephants in our country which is located on 998 hectares. The eco system includes dry zone tropical savanna climate and dry evergreen monsoon forest, the study on the behavior of translocated marauding elephants was observed during March to November 2017 and 2018. The aim of this study was identify the elephants, undertake intensive observations for 4 months, and opportunistic observations on elephants in the longer term to studying behavioral characteristics, feeding behavior and times spent at waterholes and observations of fence damage. Elephants identified with various morphological characteristics, tear marks and holes of ears, length of the tail, patches of chromatism pattern, existence of hair design, cicatrices of bullet shots, high and color of the body. On last four years 47 elephants were translocated in to the EHG from different DWC regions. During the intensive observation period of 4 months, the translocated elephants spent time at the release point, traversed the length of the fence looking for ways to escape, and were very aggressive towards humans. On the long term, it was observed that the elephants become habituated to the EHG, makes very few or no attempts to break the fence, form small bull groups while a select few remain loners. Therefore, if the marauding elephant gets to the stage that he is habituated to the EHG, there is a very high probability that he remains within the facility. Further studies would enable better planning and management of EHGs.

Keywords: Horowpothana Elephant Holding Ground, Behaviour, Marauding

How to Cite: Srinath Bandara,D.M.N, (2019). STUDY BEHAVIOR OF TRANSLOCATED MARAUDING ELEPHANTS IN HOROWPOTHANA ELEPHANT HOLDING GROUND, SRI LANKA.WILDLANKA, 7(3):Pages 099-111

Published On:2019-09-30

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