Feeding behaviour and pugmark analysis of elephants in Sarguja, Chhattisgarh
Journal Title: Journal of Applied and Natural Science - Year 2016, Vol 8, Issue 4
Abstract
The pugmark analysis of the elephants offers basic information to track the wild elephant migratory route, identification and census. For its study, four blocks viz, Sitapur, Lundra, Batouli (Sarguja district) and Farsabahar (Jashpur district) of northern Chhattisgarh were selected because these blocks are commonly visited by elephants and a major path route of movement of heard in inter/intra state. The most commonly consumed species belongs to family poaceae (22.58%) followed by fabaceae (19.35%) but their diet was mainly dependent on availability of seasonal food round the year and on their migration. Elephants extensively fed on Artocarpus heterophyllus, Syzygium cumini, Acacia nilotica, A. catechu, Dalbergia sissoo, Zizyphus mauritiana, Aegle marmelos and Ficus species, besides these elephants also utilized various grasses and shrubs as their food, which mainly included Dendrocalamus strictus, Cynodon dactylon etc. Elephants sometimes spent long time to feed on some particular plant species like D. strictus and Ficus species. Crop raiding, which was sporadic during the rainy season, gradually increased with more area being cultivated with the onset of monsoon. Analysis of pugmark revealed that the circumference varied from 63.80 cm to 172.70 cm whereas length x width varied from 22x20 cm to 60x55 cm, which reflects a substantial variation/differentiation of individual in heard in respect of their age, sex, size etcTherefore, management implications are needed to conserve the corridors for their long term survival and reduction of HEC. The study will be helpful to provide key information and facilitate better understating of the scenario to the forest department, policy maker and conservationist to plan, manage and improve the habitat towards the restoration and afforestation of suitable palatable species preferred by elephants of northern corridors of Chhattisgarh.
Authors and Affiliations
A. K. Thakur, D. K. Yadav, M. K. Jhariya
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP285686
- DOI -
- Views 75
- Downloads 0
Investigation on effect of time of planting in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) under polyhouse conditions in Manipur, India
An experiment on the standardization of time of planting for growing cucumber(Cucumis sativus L.) inside polyhouse was conducted during 2010-11 at the Horticutural Experimental Field, College of Agriculture, Central Agri...
Effect of liquid Biofertilizer (Vrikshayurveda) prepared from Brassica alba on the cultivation of rice
Brassica alba, one of the very anciently well known plants, was used as biofertilizer long time before. Pot culture technique was introduced and three different pots were prepared. Plants of first pot provided only norma...
The Effect of TEAT PROTECT spray and potassium permanganate teat dip in curing subclinical mastitis in crossbred cows of Villupuram district of Tamilnadu
A study was undertaken to assess the incidence of subclinical mastitis in crossbred cows of Villupuram district by using direct microscopic Somatic cell count (SCC). For this purpose sixty eight crossbred cows positive f...
Impact of different levels of organic and inorganic fertilizers on growth, yield and quality of preseasonal sugarcane ratoon in Inceptisols
A field experiment was conducted at soil test crop response (STCR) correlation project farm of Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri Maharashtra.The result showed that individual application of nitrogen (N), phosphorus...
Prevalence of Vitamin A deficiency among school going children of Jasra block of Allahabad, India
The present study was conducted to find out the prevalence of vitamin A deficiency(VAD) among school going children of district Allahabad in year 2015 to assess the nutritional status of selected school going children (a...