Abstract:
The elephants are considered the largest terrestrial mammalian in the world, requiring a larger
amount of plant material for survival. The degradation and shrinking of forest of the island
resulted due to anthropological activities. The ultimate result of the depletion and loss of
habitats and niches is the elephant migration to explore new habitats and food sources. Food
plays an important role in the elephant movement and is considered to be one of the factors
leading to Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC). The within-range enhancements of the elephant
forage availability led to within-range confine the elephant and reducing the gravity of the
HEC.
A study was conducted aiming to increase elephant forage availability in inaccessible
rangeland by establishing elephant forage plants. The study proposed a mechanism for
establishing forage plants through a device made up of bamboo cells. Information on the
elephant forage plants was gathered through the field and literature survey. The information
was placed in a database and used to prepare a Plant matrix. A questionnaire survey was
conducted on the palatability of the elephant forage plants, and based on the responses, an
index, the Forage Selection Index was developed. Bamboo was chosen as a construction
material since the Biological, mechanical and physical properties of the material are well
suited for the purpose.
A device was designed from bamboo cells with varying diameters and cutting angles and
optimum penetration depths. The optimized device was subjected to a field trial with eight
elephant forage plants. The best geometric shape, diameter, and the cutting angle for the
device for the optimum substrate penetration depth were shaped with double cutting, 7.5 cm
and 45º, respectively.
The grasses Pennisetum purpureum (Ali maana), Sacciolepis interrupta (Beru), Panicum
maximum (Gini thana), and Echinochloa glabrescens (Bajiri) demonstrated better
performance in the proposed device for the purpose of establishing elephant forage plants in
inaccessible elephant rangelands. Further, studies are needed to improve the device
performance for free falls from higher elevations and an array of elephant forage plants to
generalize the findings.
