3. Habitat Requirements of the Elephant

This chapter is based on the behavioural analysis of the elephant. Elephants are biologically not a seasonal migratory species. But in this case the movement of the elephants is found to be seasonal and repetitive. Each year they used to move from their original habitat (Dalma) to the destination habitat (Panchet Forest Division). They stayed a certain period in the destination area and after that returned back to their original habitat. One of the main objectives of this research work is to trace the reasons for such atypical behaviour. To do so, it is necessary to identify the home range of elephants. A detailed review work was done to characterise the home range of elephants over varied landscapes in the Indian subcontinent and in the study area. Not only have forest statistics been used to reveal the facts of migration, but field enquiry has also been required to identify the exact cause. The nature of food habits, nutritional requirements and changing food habits in the newly invented habitat are elucidated through empirical survey. The character of shelter is delineated by examining the forest cover, vegetation succession, ground coverage, distance from water source, road, noise and so on. These factors are responsible for both the fragmentation of the natural forest habitat and the movement of elephants within the forest patches.