The Hindu : Front Page : Climate change to blame for musth

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Climate change to blame for musth

Ignatius Pereira

Expert says off-season rain has advanced musth period in many tuskers

Photo: C. Suresh Kumar

Cooling down: Water being poured over a tusker in a pre-musth state after being tranquillized in Kollam. —

KOLLAM: The recent spurt in captive elephant violence is being attributed to climatic changes.

B. Aravind, veterinary surgeon and technical expert to the elephant squad of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, told The Hindu on Saturday that the change in climate brought about by the off-season rain had advanced the musth period in many tuskers.

Dr. Aravind said musth was an indication of robustness in elephants. Musth occurred only in healthy elephants between the age of 16 to 60 as a three-month annual cycle. Among Asian elephants, only bull elephants came to musth, whereas among African elephants, both bull and female elephants came to musth.

Musth is characterised by three phases – pre-musth, blown musth and post-musth phases. The tendency to attack during musth is somewhat constant over the years. Some elephants target only their first mahouts, others the owners and some others target human beings who are strangers to them, Dr. Aravind said. It is in the pre-musth phase that captive tuskers are the most dangerous to human beings. This is a period during which tuskers do not show any physical symptoms of musth but remain highly unpredictable. They can easily become violent. Often, it is only after an elephant starts becoming violent that its mahout and owner become aware that it is entering musth.

Dr. Aravind, who has tranquillized over 120 tuskers in musth and is an expert in musth care management, said the off-season rain this year had had a devastating effect on captive tuskers. The heat and humidity caused by the intermittent rain had advanced the musth period.

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