Wasgamuwa Journals: Scientific and/or other rants from the Jungle: Day 4 - 12/1/12

Monday, January 16, 2012

Day 4 - 12/1/12 - The 4 Hour Transect

Our Field Guides, one in Jungle Pants

City Boy; Jungle Bath

Today I spent 4 hours on a transect looking out for signs of elephants through dung and footprints. In the mean time I made some other observations that stimulated the following research questions:

1. How effective is orange and cactus-grown by farmers- as a natural defense against elephants?

2.Why are there so many different species of red bugs in the dry zone?

3. Why do tree trunks split into that many winding trunklets?

4. Why do jungle floors have such a dense understory?

5.What effects do leafed vine parasites have on kone trees?

Curious Buggers in the jungle

A lovely ramshackle Colonial school in the middle of the jungle

Veroni & Jayathilaka(J-Man)

The other SLWCS base camp where Reeve fell in love with the puppy

1 comment:

apple koJanuary 19, 2012 at 4:08 AM
im in love with the puppy too <3
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The Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC)

The human population in Sri Lanka is constantly increasing and as it does so, people need more land to live on and grow crops. As a result, in areas such as Wasgamuwa, people are encroaching on the natural habitats of Elephants. These animals lose much of their feeding grounds as a result and tend to venture into crop fields and break into peoples' houses in search of food. In retaliation, humans in these areas hurt and kill elephants to protect their land and themselves. This results in hostility between the two populations.

I am studying elephant movement patterns to see how the conflicts between the two populations can be better resolved with the Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society.