Co-existence of Asian elephants with human beings - A difficult dream to be realised
Elephants and human beings in Rajaji National Park in northern India are increasingly arriving into conflict because of the conversion of elephant's natural habitat into agricultural areas. Besides, railway track which passes through the park area, national highways, anthropogenic activities etc are restricting frequent movement of elephants within their home range. In a few of the villages, farmers are not cultivating sugarcane mainly due to fear of damage by elephants. In order to identify the number of villages affected, crop raiding behaviour of elephants during period of seven years was assessed and the main reasons for crop raiding were identified.