Elephant Trail Mapping
The forest south of the Weheragala Tank was selected to survey for elephant trails to map them. We were able to conduct these walking surveys only on two days due to the increased elephant activities outside the Wasgamuwa National Park. Over one hundred elephants are distributed over this area presently making it too risky to conduct walking surveys. During these surveys it became quite apparent that we needed to increase our knowledge to identify woody plants. In this regard a good reference collection of plant field guides is an essential resource for this activity. We are also working on establishing a plant reference collection to help in this effort.
Elephant observations at Weheragala Tank (Lake)
Presently over one hundred elephants can be observed on some days in various social groups at the Weheragala Tank. For the elephant observations the following activities were conducted.
* Data was collected on group composition.
* A new behavioural study was initiated with the aim of collecting information for an elephant ethogram.
* Data was also collected to study their time budgets on different behaviours.
We also began to conduct night observations using night vision scopes and as a trial several pictures and videos were recorded using the night visions. The quality of the videos seems good and can be used for night studies of elephants.
During one night disturbance were caused by some drunks. Ironically nearly 60 percent of the people killed in Sri Lanka annually by elephants happen to be intoxicated men. Men imbibed with alcohol gets a false sense of bravado to challenge elephants. Unfortunately it is a fight they can never win.
We need more binoculars, night visions and spotting scopes for this project especially if we are to increase afternoon and night observations during the dry season when elephants often hang out on the littoral plains of the Weheragala Tank.