NEWS

Assam’s forest department is planning to collar at least five elephants in high-conflict habitats in the coming months.

WHAT ARE RADIO-COLLARS

• GPS-enabled collars
• Relay information about an elephants’ whereabouts
• Weigh roughly 8 kg and are fitted around the elephant’s neck
• According to a WWF blog, collaring includes identifying a suitable candidate (generally an adult elephant), darting it with a sedative, and fitting a collar around the elephant’s neck, before the animal is revived.
• Team also attaches an accelerometer to the collar to “understand what exactly an elephant is doing at any given time (running, walking, eating, drinking, etc)”.

HOW DOES RADIO-COLLARING HELP

• Help us track and study the movement patterns of the herd, across regions and habitat
• Serve as an early warning system, and if people know which direction an elephant is moving, they can prepare accordingly
• Main objective is long-term study of movement patterns

CHALLENGES/DRAWBACKS

• All components are not available in India-have to be imported and are quite expensive.
• Can only be focussed on a senior elephant so there is less chance of growth
• Many times elephants are not able to keep the collar on