It is almost a miracle that creatures as big as elephants are still found in a country with almost one and a half billion people. This is largely because since the ancient times, wildlife has been extended protection by connecting these to gods and deities through religion and culture. It is a delicate balance and unfortunately, this balance is now tipping against the wild creatures due to increasing man-animal conflict.
Elephants are migratory in nature and this means that they have to travel long distances, following their ancient migration routes. Human habitation has been cutting through these migrations passages and wild habitats have been converted to farmland, villages, towns and cities. Roads and railway lines cut across their migration paths and this is pushing elephants in India, closer to extinction.
It is important that elephant habitats are connected by wildlife corridors so that the animals can move from one forest to another. As these corridors are shrinking, elephants are being forced to restrict their movements to large forested habitats like Corbett Tiger Reserve.
Corbett has over 1100 elephants as per the last census figures. These are part of one of the four distinct elephant populations in the country. Apart from the north Indian Himalayan foothills, elephants are found in North-east India, Eastern India and South India.
This peaceful herd was recently seen feeding in a beautiful grassland in Corbett Tiger Reserve by Jim’s Jungle Retreat naturalist Jeewan Rautela.