Good Indian elephant news

This video from India says about itself:

Gajraj, A story of the Asian Elephant

26 March 2012

The largest of land mammals GAJRAJ, as the elephant is popularly known in India, is inseparably woven with the culture, history & tradition and symbolizes strength, prosperity and wisdom.

This film shot in the idyllic surrounding of the Jim Corbett National Park, typical elephant country, takes viewers through the elephant’s natural history- from its evolution 55 million years ago to its present distribution and depicts its physiology & ecology and also talks of history, of gestation & mortality, of domestication & conservation and about poaching for ivory.

From Wildlife Extra:

Indian elephant corridor restored in Meghalaya state

Indian elephants will benefit from a new wildlife corridor

Indian elephants are one step closer to being able to travel freely from the Emangre Reserve Forest to the Rewak Reserve Forest in Meghalaya state. These forests in the south Garo Hills are home to more than 1,000 elephants, and protecting them and allowing them to move freely across the region has become increasingly important in recent years. The principal occupation of the area is agriculture and elephants are troublesome visitors to the Garo villages as they raid crops and cause damage to fencing and other infrastructure. The villagers have to mount 24-hour guards and can retaliate with firecrackers to scare the elephants.

Over past few years Meghalaya has been creating what are called ‘elephant corridors’, which help to keep the animals away from the villages, and allow them to live natural lives, interacting with other elephants in other forests and reserves.

Currently there is a corridor between Siju Wildlife Sanctuary and Rewak Reserve Forest. The new corridor will increase the elephants’ range and will eventually connect with a network stretching across the country.

An elephant corridor is roughly defined as a stretch of forested (or otherwise) land that is protected from expansion of human settlements, cultivation and mining, and that links larger habitats and forms a conduit for animal movement between them. The Meghalayan corridors will eventually help enhance species survival and birth rate.

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