Another Borneo pygmy elephant fitted with GPS collar

LAHAD DATU: WWF-Malaysia captured another Borneo pygmy elephant in Ulu Segama-Malua on Tuesday after having tracked the path of the mammal for two days.

The captured elephant, a female believed to be few months pregnant, was fitted with a collar that can send GPS signals to WWF daily via satellite, enabling researchers to keep track of its movements.

The pachyderm, thought to be about 40 years old, was captured along with her young cub by a team of WWF wildlife trackers led by WWF-Malaysia’s Asian Rhinoceros & Elephant Action Strategy (AREAS) Project Manager Raymond Alfred and assisted by AREAS Programme Coordinator Amritharaj Christy Williams, who is based in Katmandu, Nepal.

The animal was sedated by the drug xylazine, fired from an air pump gun from close range, and then fitted with the GPS collar. The entire process took less than an hour.

All in all, this is the eleventh elephant captured and collared by WWF, who embarked on a joint project with Sabah Wildlife Department, with support from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the WWF’s Asian elephant conservation efforts.

“The first elephant was captured in 2004, followed by five each in 2005 and 2007. Of the total, three were from Kinabatangan, one in Tabin and seven in Ulu Segama-Malua,” said Raymond when met in Danum Valley.

“One of our main objectives is to study the key habitat, the movement and the diet of the elephants,” he said. “Most important of all, we want to survey their population—we want to know whether the two groups of elephants that we have collared so far in the same area share the same habitat or not.”.

“We also want to know their social interaction: last month we collared a male elephant, and now the latest one, a female. We want to study if males from other groups interact with the female group,” he explained. “Based on this, we can determine the level of genetic diversity between these two groups of elephants.”

Based on the dung count survey carried out by Sabah Wildlife Department in 1998, there are fewer than 250 elephants in the Ulu Segama-Malua area, he said.

“Now, we are using a different method to count the population of the elephants which is based on dung samples and DNA analysis to determine their numbers,” he said.

The project to study the elephants began in 2004 and will end in 2009, and all the data collected will be given to Sabah Wildlife Department in preparation for its forest management plan, said Raymond.

“The data is needed to determine which corridor must be maintained as natural forest for the elephants to survive and also to prevent any future conflict between elephants and humans,” he explained. “After this, we want to collar another five elephants before the end of this year. We are looking to collar three males and two females and the project will start in June after we get the collar from South Africa.”

Meanwhile, WWF-Malaysia is planning to organise a “Name the Elephant” contest, as the captured and collared elephants have not been named. The winner will receive a free dinner, a t-shirt and a cap.