Parsa Wildlife Reserve is the largest wildlife reserve in Nepal (Fig. Permission for the study was acquired from the Department of National Park and Wildlife Conservation, the government of Nepal. The study was carried out at the Parsa Wildlife Reserve and part of adjoining reserve forest (Bara forest) in the north and Chitwan National Park and part of its buffer Zone forests. Information obtained from this study will aid elephant conservation in respect to the restoration of their habitats, and will thereby contribute towards minimising human–elephant conflict.

We predict a climate-related reduction in grass productivity in the Parsa area will correspond with a reduction of grass in the elephant diet during the dry season. This study aims to investigate the food preferences and seasonal changes in foraging patterns of the Asian elephant in the PWR, CNP and adjoining forests. However, the diet has not been studied for other elephant populations of the country. These widespread and fragmentary distributed elephants strongly prefer floodplain communities, and there is a significant shift from browse to grass-dominated vegetation between seasons in Bardia National Park. Currently, all the four isolated population of elephants in Nepal are in the lowland Terai region. The migration of elephants between these sites was thought to be primarily due to the reduction of water availability in the Bara Forest near PWR resulting in reduced food availability and aggravated competition with livestock. However, elephants were found to migrate between PWR and Chitwan National Park (CNP) since the middle of the 1990s. In central Nepal, Parsa Wildlife Reserve (PWR) is the main elephant habitat. Currently, elephants are found only in four regions of the country, eastern, central, western and far-western. Historically habitat in the Terai range was continuous. Nepal provides important habitat for Asian elephants. Such information is important for Asian elephant conservation in terms of habitat management and human–elephant conflict mitigation. However, details regarding food choice and seasonal diet composition remain unknown. Reduction in food availability due to loss of habitat has created challenges for elephant conservation in the many regions in Asia.Īlthough the dietary requirements of Asian elephants have been studied, the majority of these studies have dealt with the documentation of food plant species, the rate of consumption and seasonal comparative diet overlap between sympatric elephants and rhinos. Large herbivores such as elephants require extensive home ranges to satisfy their high food demand.

Asian elephants are generalised herbivores utilising a variety of plant species. This has caused resource competition among elephants, and increased human–elephant conflict. Even though elephant populations have decreased, in general, the local density of elephants has increased due to habitat loss. The habitat of Asian elephants ( Elephas maximus) has been decreasing throughout their range, due primarily to habitat destruction and fragmentation resulting from human land use practices. This study presents useful information on foraging patterns and baseline data for elephant habitat management in the PWR and CNP in the south central region of Nepal.Įlephants are among the internationally endangered large mammals. Elephants targeted leaves and twigs more than other parts of plants ( P < 0.05). The preference index (PI) showed that browsed species were preferred during the dry season, while browsed species and grasses were both important food sources during the rainy season. Saccharum bengalensis (4.2%), Cymbopogan spp (3.7%), Litsea monopetala (3.6) and Phoenix humilis (2.9%). The species that contributed the greatest proportion of the elephant’s diet were Spatholobus parviflorus (20.2%), Saccharum spontaneum (7.1%), Shorea robusta (6.3), Mallotus philippensis (5.7%), Garuga pinnata (4.3%). Resultįifty-seven species of plants in 28 families were found to be eaten by Asian elephants, including 13 species of grasses, five shrubs, two climbers, one herb and 36 species of trees. This study investigates the feeding preferences of the Asian elephant in Parsa Wildlife Reserve (PWR) and Chitwan National Park (CNP), Nepal.

Knowledge of foraging patterns of these animals, which is important for understanding their habitat requirements and for assessing their habitat condition, is lacking for the main areas populated by elephants in Nepal. Although a small proportion of the world population of this species, this group is important for maintaining the genetic diversity of elephants and conservation of biodiversity in this region. Nepal provides habitat for approximately 100–125 wild Asian elephants ( Elephas maximus).

Phoenix meaning in nepali