Highest Elevations Reached by Asian Elephants Elephas Maximus Linn. - a Review

2009·1.9 MB·

by  Anwaruddin Choudhury

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
of the species close to the droppings. The droppings of Common Indian Mongoose does not play a significant role
Mongoose were hard to find and we came across it only on inseeddispersal asiteatsthepulpanddropsthe seedsunder
three occasions during the study period. the parent plant. However, our observations in Sriharikota
On examination of 28 of the droppings collected we suggest that the Common Indian Mongoose is a probable
m
counted 362 seeds ofPhoenixfarinifera, a small (3 tall) legitimateseeddisperserasseedswererecordedinitsfaeces.
date palm species common in Sriharikota. Later, we also Other than the mongoose, small carnivores like Badgers,
recordedseedsofGrewia rhamnifoliaand Syzigiumcumini. MartensandCivetsareknowntoplayaroleinseeddispersal
In Sriharikota, the Golden Jackal Canis aureus and Small and facilitate germination (Herrera 1989; Rabinowitz 1991;
Indian Civet Viverricula indica are the major dispersers of Zhouetal.2008). Hence,smallmammalslikethemongoose
these three plant species (Davidetal. 2008). must be intensively evaluated for their role in seed
According to Balasubramanian and Bole (1993), the dispersal.
REFERENCES
Balasubramanian,P.&P.V.Bole(1993): Seeddispersalbymammals Menon, V. (2003): A Field Guide to Indian Mammals. Dorling
at Point Calimere Wildlife Sanctuary. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. Kindersley(India)Pvt. Limited, pp. 200.
90(1): 33-44. Prater,S.H.(1971):TheBookofIndianAnimals. 12lhReprint.Bombay
David,R,B.SenthilMurugan&R.Manakadan(2008):Plant-animal Natural HistorySociety, pp. 316.
interrelationshipswithspecialreferencetofoodplantsofbirdsand Rabinowitz,A.R.(1991):Behaviourandmovementsofsympatriccivet
mammals. Pp.6-52.In: Investigationsintosomeecologicalaspects species in Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand.
ofSriharikota Island. Final Report (2004-2007). Bombay Natural J. Zoology223: 281-298.
History Society. Mumbai. Zhou,Y.B.,L.Zhang,Y. Kaneko,C.Newman&X.MingWang(2008):
Herrera, C.M. (1989): Frugivory and seed dispersal by carnivorous Frugivoryandseeddispersalbyasmallcarnivore,theChineseFerret
mammals and associated fruit characteristics in undisturbed Badger, Melogale moschata in a fragmented subtropical forest of
Mediterraneanhabitats. Oikos55: 250-262. centralChina.ForestEcologyandManagement255(5-6): 1595-1603.
HIGHEST ELEVATIONS REACHED BYASIAN ELEPHANTS
4.
ELEPHAS MAXIMUS LINN. -A REVIEW
Anwaruddin Choudhury1
'The RhinoFoundation, Bamunimaidam,Guwahati781 021,India. Email: [email protected]
The Asian Elephant Elephas maximus Linn, occurs at Rechila and Sathila in British Bhutan, at 3,066 m to
across south and south-eastAsia, from peninsularIndia and feed on bamboos. Even tracks were seen in 0.6 m snow in
Sri Lanka to Sumatra and Borneo (Corbet and Hill 1992; April 1907. Elwes (1916) while supplementing Shebbeare
Choudhury 1999). It occurs in the plains as well as hills, (1915) said that “in August 1886 I made a trip with Mr.
occasionally moving to higher areas. The highest mountain Prestage from Darjeelingup the RishilaorRechilawith the
range within and nearits distributionrange isthe Himalaya. object offinding a shorter and betterroute into the Chumbi
How far up the species has ascended has been a matter of Valley. For some miles the only path that then existed was
great interest and curiosity. made by wildelephants, and ourcamp belowthe summit at
The first published attempt to find out the highest about 2,743 m was disturbed in the night by a herd. But I
occurrence of Asian elephants was by Capt. Molesworth was assured by my friend, the late Mr. C.B. Clarke, FRS,
(1914). He mentionedof3,109matBhutan-Tibetboundary, that on one of his botanical expeditions into eastern
whichherecordedduringtheAkaexpeditions.Hementioned Sikkim, he had seen elephants' tracks in the snow at about
that the elephants move up during hot weather. This area is 3,657 in”.
apparently somewhere in the present West Kameng district Betts (1947) mentioned that “While crossing the
ofArunachal Pradesh because the Aka tribes inhabit there. Bompu La (2,926 m) in early September I was surprised to
Although,theboundaryofbothBhutanandTibetisnowhere findfreshtracesofalargenumberofelephants...”Hefurther
nearby, it is understandable that about a century back clear stated that the ringal bamboos growing there attracted the
demarcation on the inaccessible mountains wasdifficult. elephants during the summermonths. He, however, did not
Shebbeare (1915) while quoting Mr. Tinne of the pin point the location and no subsequent writer except
ForestDepartmentstatedthatelephantsascendatall seasons Choudhury (1999) highlighted the site.
92 J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 106 (1), Jan-Apr 2009
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
liveanimalsintheareaincludingPiri-La(27°07'N;92°25' E),
which has anice topography andenroute there were several
smaller flat areas with pools and abundant ringal bamboos.
The elephants start ascending in late March or early April
and remain there till end-October. They move from south-
west of Piri-La towards north and north-east up to Tamam
Top (27° 10' N; 92° 27' E; south ofTenga and south-east of
Rupa)forabout 5-6monthsbefore startingtodescendatthe
onsetofwinterwhen the areaexperiences snowfall.
While ascending they follow the main road (gravel
road) from Bompu to Chaku; some directly ascend Piri-La
whileotherscontinuethroughtheroadviaEagle’sNestPass
toLamacamp.Interestingly,thevillagersandvisitor’sfollow
thetrailmadebyelephantswhileascendingPiri-La(including
Fig. 1: Mapof Eagle’s NestSanctuaryand Piri-La ridge me). The animals which directly ascend Piri-La follow the
showing high elevation summerrangeofelephants inwestern crest line ofthe mountains, which is not rugged but rolling
Arunachal Pradesh
fortheir subsequent movement and foraging. The elephants
ThesitesmentionedbyMolesworth(1914)andBetts which travel through the road to Lamacamp mainly affect
(1947)appearedtobethesameandwillbediscussedlaterin theroadside areas atEagle’sNestPass, where some flatand
detail. Those of Shebbeare (1915) and Elwes (1916) are rolling areas are present with abundantbamboos, andneara
located in the present day Neora Valley National Park of largepondwithsaltlickandringalbamboosnearLamacamp.
Darjeelingdistrict.WestBengal,andadjacentareasofSikkim The elephants cannot descend from the ridge to the road at
(Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary, East Sikkim district) and most stretches ofthe road owing to steep slopes and cliffs.
Bhutan (Samtse or Samchi district). However, there is no Mostoftheanimals(exceptforsomelonebulls)mingleagain
recentreport ofoccurrence in this part ofSikkim or Bhutan above Lamacamp atTamamTop.
although the pachyderms move considerably high up in the While descending, the elephants take both the routes
NeoraValley,butallsuchmovementsareinsummerandnot till Chaku, but it is not known (unless some animals are
in all seasons as mentionedby Shebbeare (1915). radio-collared) whether the same animals are passing
The sites ofMolesworth (1914) and Betts (1947) are through. So far as the number of elephants is concerned,
somewhatdifficulttolocateforpeopleunfamiliarwitheastern they were found to be in family groups or small herds of
HimalayaasMolesworth(1914)mentionedofageneralarea 7-10 animals. Although congregations have not been
and latterjust Bompu La. Presently, there is no place called encountered, on Piri-La and TamamTop, where the flat or
Bompu La but there is a station having camps of road rolling ground is relatively large with abundant ringal
construction labourers known as Bompu (27° 04' N; 92° 24' bamboos and grass, herds of 20+ were reported by locals
E)inWestKamengdistrict,Arunachal Pradesh. Itisthrough whooccasionallypassthroughonfoot.Thetotalnumberof
this place that the old Foothills - Bomdila road passes. The elephantsspendingtheirsummersatsuchheightisestimated
highest point on road is north-east of Bompu, known as to be between 50 and 80.
Eagle’sNestPassat2,850melevation(27°07'N;92°28'E). Theroadinquestion(Foothills-Bompu-Chaku-Eagle’s
Eagle’s Nest appears to be the new name for Betts’ (1947) Nest Pass-Lamacamp-Tenga) is largely a disused one with
Bompu La?The mountain ridge above Eagle’s Nest Pass is only a few vehicles of Border Roads Organisations (BRO,
known asPiri-La, whosehighestpointis3,200mhigh. Piri- GREF,BRTF,etc.)andhunter’splyingonit.butitwasunder
Laapparentlyreferstoapassonanoldfoottrack,butisnow widening and improvement for all-weather traffic between
alsothenameoftheridgeaswell asthepeak. Manyofthese Tezpurand Bomdilatill suchsteps were shelvedafew years
locationsarenowinsideEagle’sNestWildlifeSanctuaryand back owing to possible damage to the sanctuaries. This
Sessa Orchid Sanctuary (Fig. 1). remains the major threat for future also, which might stop
I had the opportunity to work in the area in the 1990s such interesting migration ofthe elephants to such a height
(Choudhury 1999,2003).Iobserveddung,footprintsaswellas every year.
J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.( 106 (1), Jan-Apr 2009 93
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
REFERENCES
Betts,F.N. (1947):Altitudinal limitoftheIndianelephant.J. Bombay Region:ASystematicReview.OxfordUniversityPress,Oxford,
Nat. Hist. Soc. 47(3): 546-547. UK.
Choudhury,A.U.(1999): StatusandconservationoftheAsianelephant Elwes,H.J.(1916):Altitudetowhichelephantsascend.J.BombayNat.
Elephasmaximusinnorth-easternIndia.MammalReview29(3): Hist. Soc. 24(2): 355.
141-173. Molesworth, A.L.M. (1914): Altitude to which elephants ascend.
Choudhury,A.U.(2003):BirdsofEaglenestWildlifeSanctuaryandSessa J. BombayNat. Hist. Soc. 23(2): 350-351.
OrchidSanctuary,ArunachalPradesh,India. Forktail19: 1-13. Shebbeare,E.O.(1915):Altitudetowhichelephantsascend.J.Bombay
Corbet, G.B. &J.E. Hill (1992): The MammalsoftheIndo-Malayan Nat. Hist. Soc. 23(4): 770.
5. FIRST SIGHT RECORD OFASIATIC IBEX CAPRA IBEXSIBRICA
FROM KUGTI WILDLIFE SANCTUARY, CHAMBA, HIMACHAL PRADESH, INDIA
Aishwarya Maheshwari1'2, D. Sharma1,3 and S. Banerjee1,4
'WWF-India, 172-B,LodiEstate,NewDelhi, 110003,India.
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
Snow Leopard survey was conducted in Uttarakhand comm.). Apart from Asiatic Ibex Capra ibex Brown Bear
,
and Himachal Pradesh by WWF-India in 2008. Kugti Ursitsarctos GoralNemorhaedusgoralandMonalPheasant
,
Wildlife Sanctuary (KWLS) was one ofthe study areas for Lophophorus impejanus were also sighted during the
collecting the information on direct and indirect evidences survey.
of Snow Leopard, co-predators and their prey. KWLS is TheAsiatic Ibexisawildgoat,andmalecaneasilybe
situated in the Chambadistrict ofHimachal Pradesh, India. identified by the thick scimitar-shaped horns and pointed
It represents the Biogeographic zone-2A of North-West beard. Female canbe identified by the smallersize andthin
Himalayas (Rodgers and Panwar 1988). On November 14, parallelhorns.Thecoatisdarkbrownwithdullwhitesaddle
m
2008, while surveying from Duggi to Relang and scanning patches. It is distributed in the mountainranges (3,650 to
surroundingmountainsforevidenceofwildlife,anAsiaticIbex 6,700 m) of western Himalayas, i.e., west of Sutlej in
Capraibexsibricawassightedatlocation32°39'55.1"Nand Himachal Pradesh and western Ladakh (Menon 2003). It
76° 46' 39.5" E. It was agroupoffive individuals, ofwhich prefers steep slopes and in the spring they are found low
two males could be identified. The animals’ identity was below the snow-line, attracted by the new sprouting grass
ascertained fromthe pointedbeard, and shape ofhorns that where they usually graze early in the morning and evening.
werethickscimitar-shaped(Prater 1998; Menon2003).The
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
sexoftheremaininganimalscouldnotbedetermineddueto
long distance (about 100 m) and low visibility.
Theyappearedforaboutthreetofourminutesandwent We thank Mr. Vinay Tandon, Principal ChiefWildlife
totheothersideofthehill.ThegroupofIbexwas sightedat Warden, Himachal Pradesh, Mrs. Sunita, DFO, Wildlife,
an elevation of3,700 m at the southern aspect. These were Chamba, for guidance and support in the entire survey in
at50° slope and in ashrubland.The vegetationconsistedof Himachal Pradesh. We wish to extend our sincere thanks to
grass (40%) and shrub (60%). This was the first sighting of Mr. Ravi Singh, Secretary General, WWF-India, for
Asiatic Ibex in the KWLS. Only indirect evidences were facilitatingtheentiresurveyonSnowLeopardinUttarakhand
recorded so far (G.S. Rawat and S. Sathyakumar pers. andHimachal Pradesh.
Menon, V. (2003): A Field Guide to Indian Mammals. Published by HistorySociety andOxfordUniversity Press.
Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Limited in association with Rodgers, W.A. & H.S. Panwar (1988): Planning a Wildlife Area
Penguin BookIndia(P)Limited. Network in India. Vol. 1 and II. WII Field Document No. 7.
Prater, S.H. (1998): The Book ofIndian Animals. Bombay Natural Wildlife Institute ofIndia, Dehradun.
94 J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 106 (1), Jan-Apr2009