Elephant experts and conservationists have sounded the alarm over the sudden rise in instances of elephants making their way towards Udhagamandalam town, warning that the recent incursions could lead to an attempt to “colonise” the upper plateau, furthering chances for negative human-elephant interactions in the region.

Over the past two years, five different elephants have made their way towards Udhagamandalam town. A few weeks ago, a juvenile male entered Doddabetta Peak and then Udhagamandalam town itself on Monday. On Wednesday morning, two other elephants, too, reached Ketti Palada in the Ketti valley, where they raided crops.

Speaking to The Hindu, B. Ramakrishnan, member of the IUCN Asian Elephant Specialist Group and head of the department of wildlife biology at the Government Arts College in Udhagamandalam, said the recent forays into the upper plateau were a matter of concern.

Mr. Ramakrishnan said that young male juvenile elephants often have a phase wherein they explore new habitats, occasionally associating with other males. However, their explorations towards Udhagamandalam town had been few since records began. “There could be a number of reasons for this [rise in instances of elephants entering the town], including disturbance to their usual dispersal areas in the lowlands, lack of fodder, wildfires and severance of pathways,” he said.

He added that even climate change could be a factor driving elephants towards previously unexplored habitats in the upper plateau, but more research is needed to understand these variables. “For a far-ranging and complex species like the elephant, it is highly unlikely that a single reason is the cause. It is probable that a number of factors are playing into each other and these need to be understood,” he added.

Traditionally, elephants making their way up to the higher elevations of The Nilgiris would skirt around major human settlements, making their way into Mukurthi National Park from Thorapalli into Naduvattam via the Nilgiri Peak and the Geddai slopes or even from Silent Valley, but these new routes being taken by elephants through Udhagamandalam town could spell trouble in the future, warn conservationists.

N. Mohanraj said the Forest Department needs to act quickly in driving stray males away from Udhagamandalam in order to avoid any potential efforts by elephants to “colonise” these areas, where there is a high potential for negative human-elephant conflict.

“If one male elephant makes its way up and finds a niche for itself to occupy, it could lead others to do the same,” said Mr. Mohanraj, adding that while it was necessary to understand the reasons for the elephants utilising these new landscapes, the more important task was to control the issue quickly.

“Many of these juveniles who break away from their herds also don’t have older bull elephants to associate with. If these elephants begin regularly entering Udhagamandalam town, there will invariably be a surge in negative interactions between people and elephants,” he said, adding that the elephants, too, will stand to lose out in the long run.

“These individuals will have to rely on crop raiding as there is little natural fodder for them in the highly degraded forests in the upper plateau. They might even resort to foraging in garbage dumps,” he said.

Mr. Ramakrishnan said that the elephants needed to be profiled and tracked in the coming years to understand if the same animals were making their way up the slopes, and to also ascertain the reasons for their behavioural changes.