Our prior knowledge of elephant ranging patterns over a nine-year period since 2009, acquired through following individual elephants, allowed us to demarcate an extended study area of c. 10,000 km2, in southern India. This region was then overlaid with a grid, consisting of 1,000 cells of size 10 km2 each, using Quantum Geographical Information System44. Of these, 778 cells had forest patches within them and using a questionnaire survey, administered to experienced forest guards, we established the presence of elephants at least for six months annually in 118 of these cells (Fig. 4). These cells were then systematically surveyed by a team, comprising the researchers and experienced forest staff, for elephant presence at select waterholes, either through direct sightings or by indirect signs such as dung, tracks or evidence of foraging, over a period of one year, from February 2015 to February 2016, taking care that each cell was surveyed at least once every month. This initial survey also allowed us to determine that only 63 of these 118 cells, comprising c. 630 km2 were logistically amenable for long-term monitoring of elephants using the camera-trap method and was designated as the intensive study area (Fig. 4).
Our observations of male elephants in the study area along with other such studies on Asian elephant socioecology suggests that male Asian elephants do not express periodic and long musth periods at least until about the age above 20 to 25 years13,17, similar to African elephants19. The forays of SIM males away from their natal herds too started from around the age of 10 years and increased in frequency after the 10th year13. Hence, it was essential to categorise elephants using the maturity classes that we have, as it provides adequate importance to males in the adolescent age class (10 to 20 years of age), which have seldom been studied. Our repeated observations of wild male elephants and of those in captivity allowed us to establish a strong correlation between the age categories of male elephants and their maturity classes, namely, SIM, SM and SSM. Thus, individual males from 1 to 10 years constituted SIM males, those from 10 to 20 years SM males and those beyond 20 years SSM males.
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We would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their extremely insightful comments, which helped us improve the quality of our manuscript. We would also like to thank the Rufford Foundation, Business Transactions Group Legal, Prince Bernhard Nature Fund and the Ashirvadam Trust for their support towards the long-term study of Asian elephant behavior and ecology in the human-dominated landscapes of the Eastern Ghats. We would like to express our gratitude to the officials of the Forest Departments of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu states for their constant support and involvement in the study and for necessary research permissions. NS and VK would like to thank the field staff of the respective Forest Departments, farmers living alongside the elephants in the study area and the elephants themselves for their patience during the many hours of interactions. RS was a JC Bose National Fellow during the tenure of this study. We would also like to thank the administrative staff, colleagues and friends at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Asian Nature Conservation Foundation and the Foundation for Ecological Research, Advocacy and Learning (FERAL) for their constant support and encouragement during this study. NS is thankful to Manipal Academy of Higher Education for permitting this research as part of the PhD programme. Finally, we are grateful to Rajat Nayak for his untiring help with the GIS analysis.
The author expresses sincere gratitude to Dr Susanna Stout for her enthusiastic support in collecting and analysing placental samples from culled elephant in Kruger National Park, South Africa and to Professors John Skinner and Rudi van Aarde of The Mammal Research Institute, University of Pretoria for laboratory accommodation and logistic support. Also to Dr Ian Whyte, Mrs Colleen Wood and the members of the culling team in Kruger Park for much practical assistance and great courtesy and kindness. The Bernard Sunley and Sir Philip Oppenheimer charitable trusts kindly provided generous financial support. 2ff7e9595c
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