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He loves these gentle giants
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Various national and international scientists have considered his work a pioneering effort.
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He has been associated with the `gentle giants' of forests for more than two decades. His research on elephants in Eastern Ghats has thrown light on selective poaching for tusks. Chennai-born scientist, Dr. Raman Sukumar, presently working at the Indian Institute of Science (Bangalore), talks to P. Oppili about the survival and future of Asian Elephants.
AS A boy, Raman Sukumar loved to see programmes on space science and in those days the only source where they could be accessed was the American Embassy library. When he was 15, his passion changed to nature.
The Guindy National Park attracted him the most. "Me and my friend used to visit the Park regularly for observing birds, black bucks and identifying plants. It became a regular weekend hobby."
After completing his pre-university course, Dr. Sukumar attended a programme conducted by National Council of Educational Research and Training and received the National Science Talent Award. This induced him to pursue a career in science, he recalls.
After completing his master's degree in 1979, he joined Indian Institute of Science (Bangalore), for research. He registered under Professor Madhav Gadgil, who is considered father of modern ecology in the country.
Dr. Sukumar's first field study began in the mid-1980s. It was a survey on the elephants in Eastern Ghats. The area selected included Biligiri Rangan Forest Range in Karnataka; wooded areas in Dharmapuri, Erode, Hosur and Sathyamangalam in Tamil Nadu.
After interacting with Forest officials and local villagers, a team headed by him estimated the elephant population at 2,000 in the Eastern Ghats. The study was presented at a symposium organised by the International Union for Conservation of Natural Flora and Fauna in Colombo.
His love for pachyderms developed further when he undertook study on man - elephant conflict. He chose Hasanur, a village along the Tamil Nadu - Karnataka border, for his study. Dr. Sukumar studied natural ecology of elephants, focussing on the man-elephant conflict, which was later published as a book by Cambridge University Press.
Various national and international scientists have considered his work a pioneering effort.
"It was a mixture of everything - sophisticated lab work, detective work, observing the animals in the field and interacting with villagers and officials."
Following his study, the issue of poaching came to the fore. In 1991, soon after the Project Elephant was launched, he was made part of the task force set up to monitor the programme. There are 11 elephant ranges in the country, each consisting of sanctuaries, national parks, protected areas and non-protected areas.
The project was started with six objectives - to maintain the integrity of the areas, track animal movement; look at the human-elephant conflict; provide assistance to the States to mitigate man - animal conflict; to control elephant poaching for ivory and for meat in the North East; ensure the welfare and management of captive animals and to conduct awareness programmes for all the stakeholders.
According to his estimate, the country has a total of 28,000 elephants in the wild and 3,500 in captivity. The elephant population in the country has increased.
In the South, numbers have increased in the wild. But, the male - female ratio is becoming more and more unequal, due to selective poaching of tuskers for ivory, he says with concern.
"Every State has had its share of poachers in the last 25 years, and the offenders have always committed the crime in the neighbouring States. Poachers adopt this method to avoid arrests by local police or forest officials," he says.
The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and the Eastern Ghats together, account for more than 9,000 elephants. This is by and far the largest congregation of Asian Elephants in the world, he adds.
Dr. Sukumar received Presidential Award of the Chicago Zoological Society, 1989; Order of the Golden Ark, The Netherlands, 1997; Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences; Whitley Gold Award for International Nature Conservation, 2003. This year it was TN Khoshoo Memorial Award for Conservation Science.
His first book: `The Asian Elephant: Ecology and Management' was published in 1989 and five years later, his second work was published - Elephant Days and Nights: Ten Years with the Indian Elephant. Last year his third publication was released - The Living Elephants: Evolutionary, Ecology and Conservation.
Photo: N. Sridharan
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Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
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