WII embarks on elephant survey

Daltonganj: A team of five people from the Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India (WII) is carrying out an elephant estimation study at the Palamu Tiger Reserve (PTR). According to the PTR’s estimates, the reserve’s resident elephant population currently hovers between 120 and 140.The study, which began 10 days back, will continue for another 35 days. The team is being assisted by PTR’s local ground staff.Shahzada Iqbal, a research biologist and WII team member, said the estimation will be achieved based on walking the elephant trails, locating signs, and using camera trap imagery.The undetected signs consist of footprints, elephant dung and trees and twigs which the pachyderms feed on. “The elephant dung samples are collected for genetic analysis in Dehradun’s WII laboratory,” Iqbal added.Kumar Ashutosh, PTR’s field director, said that the reserve has been segmented into 50 grids. “Each grid has a camera trap for the assessment of elephants. The data and samples collected will be studied in WII for an accurate figure,” he added.