AP photos show an injured elephant frequenting an Indian village as its habitat shrinks
The elephant often breaks into shops and helps itself to food on the shelves, prompting locals to erect steel fences and concertina wires in front of their houses and roadside kiosks. Villagers have been providing the animal food and water, but its frequent visits — at least twice a day — halt traffic sometimes, forcing locals to shoo the elephant away.
According to wildlife officials, the elephant has been unable to go back to the nearby Amchang Reserve forest after injuring its leg few months ago. They say it has also been facing resistance from other elephants whenever it attempts to join a herd.
Elephants are increasingly coming into contact with people in India, as the human population of 1.4 billion soars and cities and towns grow at the expense of jungles and other elephant habitats. In Assam, which has more than 5,000 wild Asian elephants, there have been many incidents in recent years where wild elephants have entered villages, destroyed crops and even killed people.
Wildlife activists say human encroachment has forced elephants out of their natural habitats, triggering conflicts with locals.
Conservationists have urged the government to prevent encroachments and create corridors that the elephants can use to move across forests in search of food.
——
This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Animal behaviour expert reveals what the playful dolphin who swam with a family in Dorset was REALLY doing
For many, it would be a dream come true. A lucky family were treated to an aquatic masterclass after a playful dolphin joined them on their morning swim. Lynda MacDonald, 50, and her partner, son and his girlfriend, set out for their 6am morning swim at Lyme Bay, Dorset on August 3. Seconds after the family jumped off their boat for they were joined by the huge bottlenose dolphin. The footage shows the playful mammal dancing across the water in a vertical position, asking for belly rubs and guiding people across the water with its beak. Now, experts have revealed what the behaviour really means. Thea Taylor, managing director of the Sussex Dolphin Project, said she believes the dolphin was a young male adult who wanted to 'make connections'. 'Bottlenose dolphins are inherently curious animals and have often been shown to mimic behaviours of other individuals and other animals,' she told The Daily Mail. 'It may be that this curious dolphin was trying to mimic the people's upright position in the water. 'Playing and mimicking movement is one of the main ways in which dolphins secure bonds with other individuals so, if it is a solitary dolphin without a pod it may be trying to find connections with other animals. 'The behaviour does really look like the animal is playing, the animal is choosing to stay with the family and they gave the animal space to move off when it was ready.' She warned that while this was a situation where the dolphin appeared to seek out the family, she strongly encourages other people not to seek out animals like this. 'Encouraging interactions with people can be dangerous for the animal, and people too,' she said. 'They are powerful animals and may not intentionally hurt people, but accidents can happen.' A closer look at the dolphin's behaviour suggests it was performing a manoeuvre known as spy–hopping – effectively treading water. This involves the dolphin holding itself vertically and kicking with its tail in order to hold its head above the water. The behaviour is commonly used to visually inspect the environment above the water line. The dolphin in the video also appears to approach and rub itself against the swimmers. While reasons for this may be unclear, similar actions recorded during other human–dolphin encounters have led scientists to believe it could be misdirected sexual advances. In 2018, a 'love–lorn' dolphin's interest toward humans caused a French town to ban swimming. The animal, named Zafar, would rub up against swimmers, boats and kayaks and even allowed people to hold on to his dorsal fin in the Bay of Brest. In other instances, the dolphin prevented a female swimmer from returning to shore – she was later rescued by boat – and lifted another woman out of the water with his nose Elizabeth Hawkins, lead researcher with Dolphin Research Australia, explained that solitary male dolphins may rub themselves on people or objects to form and reinforce bonds. 'It's been observed that dolphins and different whale species will rub themselves against objects with what appears to be some type of sexual satisfaction coming about,' she said at the time. According to Dorset Wildlife Trust, 28 species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises have been recorded along the UK coastline – a number of these in Dorset. Bottlenose dolphins tend to spend more time inshore than other species, making them easier to spot from the land as well as from the sea. They are regularly seen off the coast of the UK, especially in Moray Firth, Scotland, Cardigan Bay, Wales, and off the coasts of Cornwall and Northumberland. The UK is thought to have a population of around 700 coastal bottlenose dolphins, who are renowned being highly sociable and indulging in playful demonstrations like leaping and bow–riding.
BBC News
9 hours ago
- BBC News
Catcott Nature Reserve hoping to raise £500k to transform site
A nature reserve is hoping to raise more than £500,000 to improve the site for both visitors and wildlife. Catcott Nature Reserve, in Somerset, is home to at-risk bird species including lapwing, snipe, and says £535,000 would allow it to replace a bird hide, improve path surfacing and make repairs to bridges and boardwalks. Somerset Wildlife Trust, which manages the reserve, said if it were are able to extend the wetland habitat it could "help countless species to thrive, migrate, and overwinter". It is hoping to purchase six hectares of land, allowing it to connect two separate areas of the reserve, which is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, by both land and water. A spokesperson for the trust said connecting separate areas of the reserve would "create essential wildlife corridors", which in turn would boost species resilience and money raised would also contribute to expanding the shallow pool habitats, known as scrape, "providing richer feeding and breeding grounds for birds and supporting vulnerable species", said the landscape, which is made up of hay meadows, wet woodland, grassland, and fen, also provides habitats for otters, water voles and the European eel. The trust also hopes to make the whole reserve more accessible, including replacing "the ageing Lows bird hide with a spacious, accessible wildlife lookout", the spokesperson said. The money would also go towards resurfacing the car park and track, and repairing or replacing the bridges and spokesperson added: "Catcott now needs significant investment to expand, improve and future-proof it for wildlife."
BBC News
a day ago
- BBC News
How to keep a hedgehog healthy
Have you ever seen one of these prickly fellows in a garden? Hedgehogs are native to mainland Britain but they're currently classified as a species that is vulnerable to extinction. Sharon and Andy run the charity Burntisland Hedgehog Haven Hedgehog Haven and spend their time rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing sick and injured hedgehogs. They spoke to Newsround about the work they do and why it's so important, after being nominated for a BBC Make a Difference Award. This is Andy with one of their spikey residents. Andy and Sharon started rescuing hedgehogs back in March 2023 and have had 520 hedgehogs through the door so far. This is Gracie. She was caught in a football is a pretty common problem for hedgehogs. Andy and Sharon also see lots of injured hedgehogs from garden hedgehogs come in after their nests have been disturbed from humans doing garden work, others might be orphaned or have they get a call about a hedgehog, the pair will take it to the vet to get the care it needs before looking after it until it is strong enough to be released back into the wild. Linden is just one of the hedgehogs Andy and Sharon have helped to was found on his own when he was just seven days are born deaf and blind, and at their very small size, they're particularly the Hedgehog Haven has a patient this young, they need to be fed a special formula every couple of hours, even through the night. Look at Linden now!He weighed just 51 grams when he came in and is now 432g and nearly ready to be released into the wild!Andy and Sharon will try and release him where he was found, or as close to the area as possible, to give him the best chance of thriving when he's back home. Andy and Sharon say hedgehogs are nocturnal which means they are most active at night so if you see one out in the day, it might need some advice is to ask your parent or guardian to call a local rescue who will be able to give you advice on what to do. What can you do to help hedgehogs at home? You can make your garden accessible to the prickly fellows if you have one by making a hedgehog highway - an easy path into your garden for good to leave out a bowl of water so if they're thirsty they can take a biscuits or wet cat or dog food can also be really helpful for them if you know you've got some and Sharon say once they know your garden is friendly and a nice place to be, they'll probably bring their pals along too!
