TERF Thai Elephant Research and Conservation Fund

Bulls In The Wild

by Alongkot Chukaew and Philippa Mitchell

 

Elephants – majestic, proud, intelligent, family animals – charismatic mega-fauna that so many around the world wish to see enjoying freedom in forests or savannah.  In Thailand, Khao Yai National Park is one of the best places to see these amazing animals feeding on roadside vegetation or digging soil on a salt lick.

Elephants indicate both good quality and good protection of a national park.  Khao Yai is well known throughout Thailand and, indeed the world, for its fabulous forests, abundant wildlife and beautiful waterfalls.  The fact that these still exist is due to the hard work and dedication of the people that work there – from government officials to park rangers, many of whom have given their lives in the protection of this park.  There are many others too, who regularly participate in the conservation and protection of Khao Yai – local people, students, academics, tourists, the media and of course government leaders.  Examples of this participatory conservation include the successful opposition of a proposed dam in the Somorpun Valley above Haew Narok Waterfall, the closing of the golf course and tourist motel and the involvement of local people in tree planting, tourism activities and the active protection of wildlife.

The result of public participation in the conservation of Khao Yai is that elephants are still surviving, and perhaps even thriving there. The Wild Elephant Research and Rescue Fund has been studying the elephants in Khao Yai since 2001, with the kind permission of the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department.

So far we have identified at least 56 individual animals including 8 families with between 2 and 13 animals in them. Sometimes different family groups meet up together, most often at or near a salt lick. In the cool season of 2001, we saw 36 elephants together, walking up the road and then on a salt lick. We know there are other family groups in Khao Yai, but either these groups do not come close to the road (so it is hard to photograph and identify them), or we do not have detailed information on them.

However, it is not the elephant families that we wish to talk about today. It is the solitary males. Male elephants leave their family group at between 10 and 12 years of age and forge themselves a personal home range or territory where they will live, mostly alone, for the rest of their lives. Work of other researchers in Asia has shown that male home ranges do not overlap, but that family groups will overlap with more than one male.

In Khao Yai, we have identified 23 solitary males along the Park Roads and we know there are more in the further reaches of the forest.   There are a number of interesting things about these solitary males.  Firstly, they are all tuskers – other protected areas in Asia record a number of tuskless males, but we have not yet seen any in Khao Yai.  The second interesting point is that most of these males are still young and have left their family group within the last 4 to 5 years.  In fact, we believe that only three of the solitary males are over 15 years of age.  The remainder are between 10 and 15. 

It is these 19, teenage bulls that are the focus of this article.  Our observations show that they are currently forging out their personal home ranges – each will need an area of about 120km2 and herein lies the first issue.  Is Khao Yai big enough for all of these boys?

If all of the 23 bulls that we know of requires an area of 120Km2, they will need a total area of 2760Km2.  Khao Yai is only 2168Km2.  And don’t forget the bulls that we have not identified yet!  In addition, some parts of Khao Yai are not suitable for elephants – they are too high or steep, or too disturbed by human activities.  Indeed, there are definitely some parts of Khao Yai that people do not want the elephants to use, namely the tourist facilities such as campsites, the headquarters area and around waterfalls.  The other group of people who don’t want to see elephants too close are the farmers who make a living on the edge of Khao Yai.  Already we have some cases of elephants raiding crops, for example one or two males are often seen eating corn, bananas and mangoes in the fields on the north-western side of Khao Yai.   Dr Ramon Sukumar, otherwise known as the Elephant Man of India because of his ground-breaking work there on wild elephants, has found that it is mostly the bull elephants that crop raid and enter communities outside of protected areas.

The second main issue is that the 19 teenage bulls have yet to reach full maturity.  This means that they will grow in size, their tusks will grow longer (already most are at least 1 foot in length) and they will start to go into musth.  Musth is the period when male elephants are most ready to mate and their behaviour is least predictable from a human point of view!  We have only seen the three oldest males in musth, the most obvious indicator being a secretion from their temporal glands.  These males go into musth two or three times per year, and mostly between September and April.  

If a female elephant is in season, the males will compete for her and usually the dominant male in the area will be successful.   With high competition between males, the female is most likely to mate with the best male in the area and she also has a high chance of becoming pregnant.

We are concerned that as the young bulls create their own home ranges and develop into full maturity that there will an increasing risk of conflict with both tourists and the communities around Khao Yai.

Already we have some evidence that the bull elephants – both the teenagers and the mature bulls – are using these tourist areas and the roadside resources more frequently, both during the daytime and at night.  Whilst this is a great opportunity for tourists to see these amazing animals, we are worried that problems may occur – the elephants may damage or destroy tourist property and the opportunity for accidents between elephants and tourist vehicles could increase.  This is definitely an issue that needs close observation and the more information we can find out about the habitat requirements and behaviour of the bull elephants of Khao Yai, the better.  

We are also worried that the incidents of crop raiding in the farmland around Khao Yai will increase.  We are working with the Park officials and local communities to monitor these incidents and to encourage the farmers to understand the elephants’ point of view, as well as working with them to find solutions to the problem of crop raiding.

We would support the creation of an elephant management plan for Khao Yai, including the concept of limiting tourist numbers or at least reducing the number of vehicles going through the park.  This is especially relevant in the cool season as this is when elephants are most often seen on the road. 

We strongly commend and support the work of the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department for their innovative work to create a wildlife corridor between Khao Yai and the protected areas to the east – Taplan, Pangsida, Thapraya and Phraputtachai National Parks and Dongyai Wildlife Sanctuary

Whilst our work is focused on Khao Yai, these problems of human elephant conflict are found in many other parts of Thailand.  As there are elephants recorded from 49 protected areas in Thailand, it is possible that similar problems could be found in all of these areas.  Meanwhile, we hope our work in Khao Yai can be seen as a good case study for other areas to utilize.

Recommendations For Meeting Elephants on the Road in Khao Yai

1. Try not to travel through Khao Yai between about 7.00pm and daylight and especially not in the areas where the Park has erected elephant warning signs.

2. Elephants can effectively block the road in a number of ways – standing in the middle, walking along the road or feeding on roadside vegetation.  In all of these cases cars should not try to pass them. 

3. If you see elephants blocking the road – stop your vehicle then:

• First check that there are no other elephants to the side of you or behind you.  If there are, stay still.  Usually the elephants will be moving together.  Let the elephants next to you, or behind, walk past you and join their friends.
• DO NOT turn off your engine or your lights.  If you do, you cannot see where the elephants are and turning your engine back on again may scare the elephants causing them to panic and maybe attack the vehicle.
• Keep your distance from the elephants – we suggest at least 20m.
• If there are vehicles in front of you, closer to the elephants, give them space to maneuver.  If the elephants move towards them, they may need to reverse in a hurry.  If the vehicles are too close an accident may occur!
• If the elephants walk towards you, slowly reverse and keep your distance, until the elephants leave the road.  When they do, you can drive on.
• If the elephants walk away from you, perhaps going out of sight round a corner, follow them slowly.  Again keep your distance until they leave the road and you can pass by.

4. Our final recommendation is that all visitors to the Park check with the rangers on the gates whether elephants have been seen recently. In addition, they should read the displays and information the Park provides about what to do when meeting elephants and other wildlife. Visitors should ensure that they comply with the Park’s rules and regulations to do their part in protecting Khao Yai for future generations.