Satellite imaging as of December 2020, showing movement of six elephant outfitted with GPS collars
One of the critical missions of Asian Elephant Support is to support limiting Human–Elephant conflict in Asia. As the human population increases, inevitably, they are going to encroach into the habitat of wild elephants. Our goal is to increase awareness to the local communities about safe ways to co-exist with these large herbivores, who have the propensity to destroy crops.
One of the ways to address the interactions between humans and elephants is to track the elephants’ movements and map out their ranges. In August of 2019, AES approved the support for a two-year project with our long time colleague, Dr. Christopher Stremme, and the Way Kambas National Park (WKNP), for the deployment of satellite GPS collars for wild elephants living in the WKNP, southern Sumatra. Those collars are sending up-to-date tracking information on the movement of the outfitted elephants directly to the National Park authorities. Knowing the movement of these elephants provides an early warning system and helps prevent conflict with the communities whose farmland is adjacent to the National Park. The park’s Elephant Response Units (ERU) will be utilizing the tracking information to understand the elephants’ movements, habitat use, and home range size.
Satellite imaging as of December 2020, showing movement of six elephant outfitted with GPS collars
In September of 2020, AES received word that all six GPS collars had been deployed. Five (5) adult females from different groups, and one (1) adult male, received a GPS collar. These elephants and their groups were tracked by the ERUs for weeks prior to the collaring procedure in order to choose the best individual to receive the collar. The pictured map shows the tracking information for these 6 elephants so far.
Stay tuned as AES receives more data from Dr. Stremme and the Way Kambas elephants! We are proud to be a part of this conservation project supporting critically endangered Sumatran elephants. By curbing the conflict among humans and elephants, we can further safeguard Asian elephants.