A five-year study by the Assam Forest Department and World Wide Fund for Nature–India has revealed that wild elephants travel across extensive landscapes, including forests, tea plantations, agricultural fields and riverine grasslands. 

• Conducted between April 2021 and June 2026, the study tracked four female-led herds and one solitary male in Udalguri, Sonitpur and Biswanath districts.

Key Findings

• Extensive home ranges: One female-led herd covered approximately 890 square kms annually, while the solitary male’s ranging area extended across 947 square kms.
• Seasonal movement: Elephant ranges expanded considerably during the monsoon and post-monsoon seasons, possibly because of crop availability and changing resource distribution.
• Important corridors: The Nameri–Sonai Rupai–Arimora Chapori corridor enabled elephants to reach the Brahmaputra River. 
  • In Udalguri, both monitored herds crossed into Bhutan during the dry season, highlighting the importance of transboundary habitat connectivity.
• Tea plantations as secondary habitats: Elephants regularly used tea gardens for movement, shelter and foraging. 
  • However, their presence increases the risks of human-elephant encounters and electrocution from poorly managed electric fencing.

Conservation Challenges and Way Forward

The findings support a shift from protecting individual forests to landscape-level conservation, which considers all habitats used by elephants.

• Tea estates should improve night-time visibility around settlements and adjoining roads to reduce accidental encounters.
• Unused low-lying areas within tea gardens can be restored to improve forage availability.
• Electric fences must be carefully planned so that traditional elephant corridors remain open.
• India and Bhutan need stronger coordination to protect cross-border elephant movement routes.

Exam Hook: Key Takeaway

Elephant conservation in Assam requires protecting connected landscapes, managing tea-estate risks and maintaining transboundary corridors rather than focusing only on protected forests.

Prelims Practice Question

Consider the following statements:

1. The study was conducted by the Assam Forest Department and World Wide Fund for Nature–India.
2. The study recorded elephant movement between Assam and Bhutan.
3. Project Elephant was launched in 1992.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

A. Only 1 and 2

B. Only 2 and 3

C. Only 1 and 3

D. 1, 2 and 3

Answer: D. 1, 2 and 3

One-line wrap: Protecting elephant corridors across forests, tea gardens and riverine landscapes is essential for reducing human-elephant conflict and conserving Assam’s elephant populations.