Mayurjharna Elephant Reserve is Just a Gateway for Elephants: Changes in the Range Use Pattern by Asian Elephants Over Seven Decades

Abstract

Abstract. Persistent use of the Mayurjharna forest by elephants led to its declaration as “Mayurjharna Elephant Reserve (ER)” in 2002; however, the usage changed over time. We describe the elephant movement pattern and the quality forage availability in the Mayurjharna ER. We collected past and current sightings of elephants from people and records of the Forest Department and constructed the range used from 1950 to 2018. Initially, the range of elephants in the reserve was ∼80 km2 in 1950–1959 that increased to ∼572 km2 by 1990–1999 but later decreased to ∼152 km2 in 2010–2018. The high human settlements, alteration, and overexploitation of the forest might lead the elephants to the rich agricultural lands outside the reserve, making the reserve just a gateway for elephants to move to other parts of the South Bengal landscape.