Our Elephant Conservation and Monitoring Units (ECMU) in the Bukit Tigapuluh Ecosystem in Sumatra, continue to keep a close eye on the various elephant herds including Ginting’s via their GPS collars.
Ginting's herd crossing from one patch of forest to another
The period from April to September 2022 proved to be a challenging time for Ginting’s herd. They moved to areas of high-intensity human activity, including Muara Sekalo Village, Suo-suo Village, and Semambu Village, which are on the south side of the corridor.
This risky movement occurred in June when Ginting and her herd moved out of their comfort zone in the WCA LAJ Block 4 area towards the south side of the WKS corridor road through the Manggatal river. The movement of Ginting and her group to the south side of the WKS corridor led to an increase in conflict in this area. The other herds of Mutiara, Indah, and Quin then also moved into this area to join Ginting’s herd.
Map showing the location of Ginting's herd from April-September 2022
The ECMU worked tirelessly to keep these precious elephants safe. The officer in charge of supervision of human-elephant conflict mitigation actively joined the local community groups to try and encourage the elephants back to the northern part of the WKS corridor road. Ginting’s herd began the return trek to move north of the WKS corridor road in mid-September, and finally crossed the WKS corridor road at the end of September. Ginting’s herd has been calculated at having a 285 km2 ranging area.
This video shows Ginting's herd quickly crossing from one forested area to another.
(Program run by Ministry of Environment and Forestry and Frankfurt Zoological Society).