A herd of wild elephants attack and threaten a tea garden in Assam, India. The labourers get terrified and flee, stopping all tea harvesting and management work. Forest department personnel and the tea garden managers and their team use rifles to shoot in the air, in an attempt to frighten the elephants away, but in vain. The escalating man-elephant conflict in Assam is posing a serious conservation challenge. Prowling herds of elephants in search of food have made it a habit to cause heavy damage on private crops and tea garden in villages. Farmers whose main sustenance is agriculture are left with no option but retaliate by setting traps which unfortunately kills these giants mainly through poisoning and electrocution... The majestic elephants are the largest mammal on land yet they are peaceful and gentle creatures. There are two types of elephant species, Asian (Indian Elephants) and African. Asian Elephants are easily distinguishable from the African tuskers by their smaller size and ears, more rounded back and fourth toenail on each of their hind feet. They have thick, dry skin with a small amount of stiff hair, and are grey to brown in colour. The current worldwide population of Asian elephants is estimated at between 41,410 and 52,345 individuals. Listed as an endangered species, its the only remaining species of the genus Elephas mainly distributed in Southeast Asia from India in the west to Borneo in the east. Generally Elephants have poor eyesight, but they possess a very good sense of hearing and smell. The lifespan of Elephants is awesome, having bigger brains and an amazing memory. They rarely live on isolation but mostly stay together. So when one animal detects danger, the whole herd is alerted. The major regions where elephants are found in India include the forests of Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Kerala, Uttara Pradesh, Orissa, and Assam. It is estimated that there are over 28,000 Indian Elephants in India, including zoos and animal parks. The Indian Elephant is found across India in protected forests and in Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. Famous Indian Elephant reserves in India includes Periyar Widlife Sanctuary, Bandipur and Nagarhole National Parks. Assam is a north-eastern state of India surrounded by six of the other Seven Sister States: Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya. Assam is known for its exquisite natural resources, geography and its important role in India's freedom struggle. The capital city of Assam is Dispur, a specialized city circuit region located on the inside of its largest metropolis, Guwahati. Assam is particularly famous for its natural beauty. The landscape includes tea gardens, the river Brahmaputra, and many historical monuments and temples. Swami Vivekananda once said that, "next only to Kashmir, Assam is the most beautiful place in India". A state with an abundance of forest, Assam also has five national parks, around half a dozen other wildlife sanctuaries, and is home to two-thirds of the population of the unique one-horned rhino. When it comes to wildlife, Assam too has successfully conserved the one-horned Indian rhinoceros from near extinction, along with the tiger and numerous species of birds, and it provides one of the last wild habitats for the Asian elephant. It is becoming an increasingly popular destination for wildlife tourism, and Kaziranga and Manas are both World Heritage Sites. Another aspect that separates Assam from the rest of Indian states is the rich composite culture of the state. Assamese constitute the majority of the state's population but the state has over two dozen other big and small tribal groups with many of them having their own language, writing system, dance forms and traditions. Assam comprises the Brahmaputra and the Barak river valleys along with the Karbi Anglong and the Dima Hasao district with an area of 30,285 square miles. Assam also shares international borders with Bhutan and Bangladesh. Source: Wikipedia This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM 1080i High Definition, HDV and XDCAM. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Reach us at wfi @ vsnl.com and admin@wildfilmsindia.com

• published: 05 Sep 2013
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