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CONSERVATION INITIATIVES

Our Asian Elephant Program At a Glance

Journey with Lou the Elephant, scroll through and click on the pictures for more information on our efforts

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We used crowd-sourced data from >1,000 people with modern connectivity models to identify elephant corridors in a >20,000 sq.km region of Assam. Read more...

Where do animals go when the Brahmaputra inundates Kaziranga National Park? We systematically surveyed lands south of the park across seasons to show important movement conduits, including tea estates. Read more...

Conflict and connectivity are key conservation priorities in fragmented landscapes, but are often addressed in silos. But, conflict and connectivity shape each other. We try to understand the two together, and their reciprocal effects on each other, paving the way for facilitation of movement, while mitigating conflict. Read more about the connectivity–conflict interface.

We spoke to >2,000 people across 17 tea estates to document strong empathy for elephants, but a concern for personal safety, translating to broad support for elephants but less so, when they are inside tea estates.

Elephants use tea to move and access resources and space in this landscape. How to they navigate this space? What challenges do they face? We try to answer these questions, using them to drive coexistence solutions. Listen in...

What is the connectivity–conflict interface? Read our first thoughts on the conundrum we face while mitigating conflict – conflict itself, conflict responses, and commonly used mitigation methods can block connectivity, leading to reduced viability. We argue for facilitating connectivity, while minimising conflict.

What do people think about elephants on their lands? Methods we developed show that people overwhelmingly support elephant conservation on an abstract scale, but not always in their neighbourhood. Read more...

Monitoring of elephant populations, and tracking individuals elephants can provide insights useful for conservation and protection. Systematically surveying the floodplains of Kaziranga National Park, we identify individual elephants using their morphological traits, and combine this with state-of-the-art models to estimate their population size. Read more...

Our journey towards identifying individual elephants and creating a photographic database started with our co-Founder Dr. Varun Goswami's work. Read more...

We built elephant proof granaries to preserve people's food, and reduce safety risks that arise when they store grain in their homes.

We engage with people working in tea estates in the Kaziranga landscape, to facilitate elephant movement, while minimising conflict.

We hold awareness programs in schools where elephants share space with people, nurturing support and empathy for elephants.

We examine human–elephant interactions in real time, to identify triggers of conflict, and spur avoidance of such behaviours.

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